New Dawn
by Lil Drop Of Magic
Summary: When Draco Malfoy bumps into Hermione Granger three years after she broke his heart he could have no idea that she was hiding a life changing secret from him. Will Hermione ever tell him about his children? DMHG. Started Pre DH so AU
1. A Happy Routine

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world

This isn't exactly an AU but I appreciate that this is far removed from the normal world of Harry and Co.

The familiar melody emanating from her wand slowly drew Hermione Granger out of her deep sleep as she scrabbled around under her pillow trying to locate the source of the noise while with her eyes closed.

When she finally grabbed hold of the wand she tiredly whispered "finite incantatem" and pulled the duvet over her head and relaxed for a few moments. She did not like mornings.

Then, with a growl she threw the duvet off her and sat up, staring bleary eyed towards the window where pre-dawn light was seeping through the gap in the curtains.

It was 7 O'clock and she knew if she didn't get moving soon then she would be late for work at 9. Stifling a yawn she padded towards the adjoining bathroom and turned on the shower. No matter how tired she felt in the morning a hot shower would also wake her up.

Ten minutes later she emerged all clean and felt much better. She quickly dried herself and threw on a robe while magically drying her hair so that it would be a little less bushy and a little bit curlier.

When she was all done Hermione left her bedroom and went quickly down to the other end of the corridor where there were two doors. She knocked on the first door twice then opened it slightly and peeked her head round.

"Ron? It's time to get up. It's twenty past seven."

All she heard in reply was a groaning and she saw his body under the duvet shift slightly. She walked over to his curtains and threw them open then turned on his radio before leaving.

She knocked on the other door and did the same thing as before. "It's twenty past seven Harry, time to get moving," she said quietly. Harry stirred and sat up, squinting at her as he didn't have his glasses on.

"Ok," he yawned, "do you need a hand?"

"No I'm ok thanks but you could set the things up for breakfast. It's Tuesday so it's cereal today."

Harry nodded sleepily.

"Yeah sure, no problem."

She closed his door before hurrying back down the corridor towards her room but instead of going in there she quietly went in to the room opposite it.

It was still very dark in this room thanks to some black-out blinds that kept out most of the sun even in the middle of the day. But she knew the layout of the room off by heart as the three of them had decorated it together. Along one of the walls there was a huge painting of a castle and on the other walls there were horses, rabbits, lambs and other animals that were enchanted to move just like the paintings at Hogwarts. To go with the castle they had also painted a couple of Princesses and Princes, a Knight and a Jester but they would've gone back inside the castle at night time. There was a big chest of drawers, and a huge toy box in the corner. But, most importantly, there were three beds, each containing a sleeping child.

Hermione walked across to the window and slowly pulled the blind up, filling the room with light. The animals along the walls rose from their sleeping positions and began to gallop or hop around.

She bent down to the nearest little bed and looked at her beautiful daughter who had scrunched up her face due to the sudden brightness. Hermione reached out her hand and stroked the little girl's forehead.

"Seren sweetie, it's time to get up." The little girl stuck out her lower lip and opened her eyes.

"No fair," she whispered, "I always get woken first."

Hermione smiled.

"That's because you're closest to the window!" she said quietly back.

Seren just "humph"ed and rolled over so that Hermione was met with her back. Getting up she moved over to the next bed.

"Elysia, time to rise and shine!" She lent over and gave her other daughter a kiss on the forehead. Elysia smiled sleepily back at her.

"Morning Mummy!" She yawned and stretched her arms before sitting up and watching Hermione wander over to the last bed.

As she knelt down Hermione was met with two brown eyes staring back at her.

"Oh, Cato, you're already awake! Did you sleep ok little man?"

Cato nodded.

"Good. Well it's time for you three to be up and dressed so come on. Up you get!" She reached under his warm cover and pulled him into her arms.

Straightening up she walked over towards the chest of drawers as Cato lay his head on her shoulder.

"Right then! Let's decide what you're going to wear today. It's supposed to be pretty cold today so we'll have to make sure you'll be nice and warm."

While supporting Cato with one arm, she pulled open a drawer and searched around in it before pulling out three t-shirts, a pair of trousers, two skirts and three jumpers. Then she opened another drawer and pulled out the necessary underwear before placing the small boy on the floor.

"Ok, form up!"

At once the two girls sprang from their beds and joined Cato by the chest of drawers and the three of them got into a straight line, one next to the other. Hermione helped each child to get dressed then stood back to look at them.

They were only three years old but it already felt to her that they were growing up too fast. Elysia was the smallest of the three but thanks to her mother's bushy brown hair you couldn't really tell. She also had Hermione's chocolate brown eyes- as did all three of them. On the other hand, apart from the eyes, Seren was very much her father's daughter. She resembled him an awful lot and Hermione hoped to Merlin that no one would ever make the connection. Cato's hair was dark and very curly and he often reminded her of a cherub.

They were absolutely beautiful and she would not have believed it possible that she could love her children as much as she did.

"You look great," she beamed at them, "group hug!"

Hermione crouched down as she was engulfed in little arms. She gave them a quick squeeze then stood up and reached for a brush.

"What do you think today girls; pony tails to go with clip-clop and sugar lump?"

The two horses near them neighed and the girls nodded giggling.

When the triplets were all ready Hermione led them out of the bedroom, Cato running up to her with his arms outstretched. Balancing the little boy on her hip, she closed the door behind her and took the girls along the corridor and into the dining room where Harry had laid out the breakfast things.

"Good morning Harry!" cried the little girls as they saw him tucking in to some muesli while perusing the paper.

"Morning guys," he said putting down his spoon, "did you have a good nights sleep?" He got up and kissed each child on the forehead before helping the girls into their places while Hermione got Cato into his.

"Yep!" the girls chorused. Harry looked at Cato.

"What about you Cato?"

The boy just smiled and nodded before looking down at his empty bowl. Harry looked concernedly at Hermione who just shrugged her shoulders dejectedly.

Cato had never spoken a single word to anyone.

It was something that Hermione continuously worried about but, according to her research there was nothing that she could do about it. Apparently Cato would start talking when he wanted to. The muggle doctor she had taken him to had said that Cato had the capability to speak but just didn't want to. Fred and George had often tried to trick him into saying something or force him to saying he wasn't going to get any food but Hermione had been absolutely livid when she found out and they didn't try again. She was sure that Cato would start when he was ready but she couldn't help but hope that it would be soon.

Ron appeared in the dining room ten minutes later with coffee in hand and immediately started wolfing down a huge bowl of cereal.

"Ron, really! I wish you wouldn't eat like that. You're setting a bad example for the children!"

Ron swallowed his huge mouthful. "Sorry Hermione, but I'm absolutely starving!"

"Well you can pick something up from your mum's, she's sure to have something there you can snack on."

"Fine!"

He started eating deliberately small amounts, chewed them thoroughly and swallowed them exaggeratedly.

The girls giggled, while Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

She checked her watch. They had about five minutes before they were due at the Burrow. She hurried her children up before sending them off to go and get what they wanted to play with for the day.

Seren quickly came back and held something out to her mother.

"No Seren you can't take a DVD to Nana Molly's you know she doesn't have a TV! Put it back and go find something else."

The little girl sighed and wandered back towards the living room while Harry chuckled into his tea. He admired the way that Hermione wanted to give the kids a partly muggle childhood too. What neither of them expected though was how much Ron enjoyed the television too. He especially loved muggle soaps just to see how they lived their normal every day lives though Harry had explained to him that normal lives were absolutely nothing like on TV!

Once the breakfast things were tidied away and the kids were all ready to go they went into the living room to stand in front of the fire place. Cato immediately went and stood by his mother but Hermione sighed.

"Not today Cato, you know we take it in turns. You went with me yesterday, you're with Ron today."

The little boy looked up at his mother with his big brown eyes then turned and walked over to Ron who scooped him up and hugged him close while tickling him.

"You didn't think you were going to get away from me did you!"

Cato laughed happily and Hermione smiled at the pair of them while bending down to pick up Elysia. She lit the fire with her wand and grabbed some floo powder before throwing it on the fire, which turned a bright emerald green.

"See you in a minute guys!" She called out to them as Seren waved goodbye.

Elysia buried her face into her mother's robe as she stepped into the fire and shouted "The Burrow!"

Mrs Weasley was waiting for them and smothered the three children with kisses before pecking the three adults on the cheek.

"Is there any food Mum?" Ron asked hopefully while Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Honestly Ron! You ask me that every single morning and I'm beginning to suspect that I will never get any grandchildren out of you if you always think of your stomach!"

Harry and Hermione laughed loudly and the tip of Ron's ears started to turn red.

"Don't worry Molly, you'll always have three surrogates," smiled Hermione as she stroked Seren's ponytail and Ron sulked off to scavenge some food.

"Oh of course Hermione dear; it gives me so much joy to look after them. What have you three brought with you to do today?" She asked the kids.

Elysia showed 'Nana Molly' the picture books she had brought, Seren had a baby doll and Cato had a paint set.

"Goodness me we're going to have lots of fun aren't we!"

Hermione was unbelievably grateful that Molly was able to look after the children and didn't know what she'd do without her since her parents had died during the war. Molly had a lot of free time now that her children had all moved out-what with no washing of clothes to do and minimal house work. The triplets absolutely loved the magical mystery that was the Burrow- even if they couldn't watch TV while they were there!

"Ok, well it's time for us to leave now." Hermione crouched down by her three children and hugged each of them in turn before straightening up. "Bye guys, I love you!"

"Bye Mummy!"

"Love you too Mummy!"

Cato just waved.

The three wizards disapperated out of the Burrow to land in the Ministry of Magic's Atrium. Ron and Harry worked as Aurors while Hermione worked in the Department of Magical Cooperation. Ron had gotten into Auror training even though he did not have the academic qualifications due to the fact that he 'aided in destruction of the most evil wizard of their generation'. Hermione had been offered a position there too but being pregnant at the time she turned it down. She would not feel comfortable with living a dangerous lifestyle if she had someone else to be responsible for. But thanks to her qualifications and reputation she had been inundated with job offers and had taken her pick.

She bid Harry and Ron goodbye and made her way to her office- the International Magical Office of Law. Her life was very much a routine but thanks to her children each day was different and very enjoyable. It had been extremely difficult in the first few months of the children's lives because they needed so much attention and were completely dependant on her but she had had a great network of support from the Weasley's and Harry.

She also knew that very soon the children were going to be asking awkward questions, questions Hermione did not want to answer. Questions about their father.

She was slightly surprised that they hadn't really brought it up before. Maybe it was because they did not see many other children or, most likely, it was due to the presence of Harry and Ron. When the triplets saw another child with their father they assumed that their relationship was the same as the one they had with the two men.

The paternity of the triplets was a very sore topic with Hermione and one that no one ever spoke about with her. No one else knew who the father of her children was except for Ginny, Hermione's closest female friend. There was no way that she could have told anyone else. They wouldn't have understood.

Hermione hadn't told them who the father of her children was, because their father was Draco Malfoy.

I realise that no too much happened in this chapter but it was just to set the scene for everything else. I hope you enjoyed it enough to come check back in a week or so when I should hopefully have the next chapter up. I'm coming towards the end of my exams now, (only two left Wahoo!) so after this week I should have plenty more time to write.

I do not intend for this to be a very long story, but then again I thought that this chapter would be really short so who knows! I also have a habit of not finishing the stories that I start but I actually know where this one is going and as I said I don't think the story is going to be long so keep your fingers crossed!

Anyway, thanks for reading!

Lil Drop of Magic

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	2. The Incolumitas Charm

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world!

A/N Special thank you to bookworm3213 for reviewing! It made my day!

SUMMER AFTER 6th YEAR

EARLY JUNE

The sound of the dustbin outside her house crashing to the ground woke Hermione with a start. Her heart was racing and she was breathing deeply but she wasn't entirely sure why- then she remembered; she'd had another nightmare.

She'd had them ever since Dumbledore had died. They were never the same but always involved someone close to her dieing: her parents, Harry, Ron, the rest of the Order etc. She'd had enough of the sleepless nights and resolved to make a dreamless sleep potion in the morning.

It was absolutely baking hot in the bedroom and she took a sip of water from the glass on the bedside table before turning her pillow over to the cooler side and laying her head down to try to get back to sleep again.

She had just closed her eyes when she heard a tentative knocking on the front door downstairs. She sat straight up and looked at her alarm clock; it was two thirty in the morning! What on earth…?

The knocking was repeated a little louder this time and Hermione quickly got out of bed and reached for her dressing gown (as she was only wearing some little shorts and a strappy t-shirt due to the heat) and her wand. Her parents were notoriously heavy sleepers and she was probably the best person to handle the situation seeing as she was armed. So she crept quickly down the stairs and along to the front door.

She grasped her wand, ready to defend herself if need be. 'Please just be a drunk, please just be a drunk' Hermione hoped to herself as she reached out for the catch of the door.

She threw the door open and was absolutely staggered to see Draco Malfoy standing on her doorstep, who, was looking equally as shocked to see her.

"Malfoy?!" , "Granger?!" they whispered instantaneously.

She recovered quickest and before he could blink she cast him in a body-binding jinx and quickly levitated him into her living room. She laid Malfoy on the floor and just stared at him incredulously. What the hell was Draco Malfoy doing at her house?

She hadn't seen him since he emerged from the tower on the night that Dumbledore had died. At the thought of what had transpired that night she immediately feared for her safety and quickly said, "Accio Draco Malfoy's wand."

His wand flew out of his pocket into her outstretched hand and Hermione saw that it had been snapped in two. This just added to her confusion as he couldn't exactly do much harm to her with a broken wand. What was he doing here?!

It was no use. She would have to ask him herself.

She stood over him and lessened the jinx so that it was only effective from his shoulders down but kept her wand pointed at him in a threatening manner.

"A few quick questions for you Malfoy- if you don't mind?" She asked sarcastically.

"Well it's not like I have any choice in the matter is it?" He replied eyeing the wand that was pointing towards his heart.

"Quite. Right first question then, and possibly the most important, what the Hell are you doing in my house?"

"Actually Granger, you were the one who brought me in to your house. I was outside if you'd care to remember?" He drawled with a smirk on his face.

"Watch it Malfoy. In a manner of minutes I could have the Ministry of Magic over here ready to escort you to Azkaban. You're wanted for your involvement in the death of Albus Dumbledore and your rather obvious Death Eater connections. Bet your mother wouldn't be too pleased to see you end up in the same place as your father!"

To her surprise, Malfoy turned his head away from her at the mention of his mother.

"What's the matter Malfoy? Is your mother ashamed of what you've done, ashamed of you?"

He still had his head turned away from her so she moved to get a closer look at what he was doing and saw two tears rolling down his face.

Unaccustomed to seeing the boy show a moment of weakness, she faltered.

"W-What- Er , Malfoy what's wrong?"

"She's dead."

He whispered it so quietly that she barely heard it. Her arm dropped to her side and a horrible squirmy feeling wriggled away in her stomach. She cleared her throat.

"How?" she asked, her voice full of sympathy. Even though Malfoy was on the other side of the war to her, had always looked down own and reviled her, she knew that loosing a parent so young was a terrible thing to go through.

"He killed her."

"Voldemort?"

He flinched at the name but nodded mutely.

"But- why?"

"I didn't complete my task." He said simply, avoiding her pitying gaze.

"Your task? Oh, the night on the tower…" Hermione trailed off. That night still brought back uncomfortable memories.

"He killed her right in front of me. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye." His voice was choking up with emotion and the tears returned to his eyes. "He said that it would stop me from ever disobeying an order from him again."

"I'm so sorry Malfoy." He looked up at her in obvious disbelief. "No really I am. No one deserves that. Here," she lessened the jinx to limit just his legs and handed him a tissue from the coffee table. He took it and pulled himself up to lean against the bottom of the sofa. "How long has it been since…you know."

"My mother was murdered?"

Hermione nodded and swallowed nervously.

"A couple of hours ago."

Hermione gasped. 'Only a couple of hours ago! How had he got here so soon?' She thought. 'Was Voldemort's base near her house?'

"What happened?" she asked with her hand over her mouth.

Malfoy shivered despite the baking heat in the house.

"It was the first time I'd seen him since Dumbledore was killed. I'd had to stay in hiding with Snape for a while- there were Aurors everywhere. It was too risky to meet him until now.

"When we got there he didn't ask any questions about why I hadn't killed Dumbledore, he just said that I had failed him and I had to pay for my error. My mother was brought into the room, I hadn't seen her for months. She was so skinny and pale- she'd been worrying about me." The emotion was thick in his voice again and his hands were balled into fists.

"I realised what was about to happen, and I drew my wand but he cast some spell that snapped it in two and jinxed me so that I couldn't move, I couldn't even blink. I could only watch as he killed her without a second thought."

"What happened next?" she queried, her eyes glued to the blonde wizard as he recounted the recent events.

"He cast the Cruciatus on me, all the while telling me that I'm useless and worthless and that if I ever failed him again he would kill me. Then he dismissed me to another room to make me reflect on my weaknesses and think how I could serve him better," he finished bitterly.

"But I can't serve the Dark Lord, my mother…," he held his head in his hands for a couple of seconds before looking directly into her eyes, "the Dark Lord is my enemy now."

Hermione felt her spine tingle and the hairs stand up on the back of her neck due to his steely tone. "But you still haven't told me why and how you ended up at my front door?"

"I-It was my mother. She made me a charm when the Dark Lord first returned just in case anything went really wrong. I was only supposed to use it when I was absolutely desperate and had no alternative."

"What sort of charm?"

Malfoy reached into a pocket and withdrew an elaborate locket which he handed to her.

"It's an Incolumitas charm."

"I've never heard of it!" Hermione said excitedly studying the locket, her inquisitive nature over-taking her caution.

"It transports the person who opens it, to the place where they will be the safest." He stared at her a while to let the words sink in.

Hermione looked confused for a few seconds, and then comprehension dawned on her face.

"No…It brought you here?!"

He said nothing but just kept staring at her.

"There must be somewhere better for you than here!" She looked at him but he was still silent. "Say something!" she snapped at him, "surely you agree there must be some mistake!"

"It's really old magic Granger. There's no mistake. I think that it's more likely that it brought me to you rather than your house though."

"But you can't stay here! How could I possibly trust you being in the same house as my parents whenever I step out for 5 minutes?"

"Did you not here me earlier Granger? I am desperate and I have no alternative apart from death. And as for not trusting me, well I can understand that, it will take time. But you might like to know that your body-bind jinx wore off a couple of minutes ago and I have done nothing to harm you. Plus my wand is broken- there's not very much that I can do is there? Look, I can't believe I'm going to say this but, please Granger, I need your help."

Hermione glared at him.

"Well if this is ever going to happen then you're going to need to get over your superiority complex. Your blood does not make you better than me and if I ever hear you make a comment to suggest otherwise then you will be out on your arse so fast you'll see stars."

Malfoy gritted his teeth. "Fine. That's not a problem."

"Glad to hear it," she said dryly. "You can't stay here though. I'm only going to be here for a few more days before I go to…before I go elsewhere."

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Granger please, I know you're a member of the Order. You're Potter's best friend; how could you not be?"

She glared at him again.

"Whatever, there's no way that I am leaving the son of a Death Eater with my parents. You'll be putting them in a lot of danger."

He scoffed. "They're the muggle parents of one of Harry Potter's best friends; I think they're in quite a lot of danger as it is."

"We have some defences in place," Hermione said nervously, "Voldemort will be interested in far more important things than Harry's friend's parents."

Malfoy just shrugged his shoulders.

"Yes, well," she said distractedly, "Anyway, I'm going to have to try and arrange for you to stay somewhere else. Don't worry, I'll make sure that it's safe. You could probably provide us with quite a lot of information actually. So we won't want you disappearing or getting killed."

"What about tonight?"

"We have a spare bedroom. I suppose that you could sleep in that but I'm going to have to jinx you so that you don't go anywhere. Do you have any objections?"

He shook his head.

"Right, follow me then."

He got up off the floor and followed Hermione out of the door and up the stairs to the spare room. Having her former enemy follow her up the stairs felt extremely surreal.

She let him get comfortable on the mattress then charmed his arm to the post of the bed so it was as though it was in an invisible handcuff.

She turned to leave but stopped at the door and looked back at him. "I'm really sorry about your mother Malfoy."

"Thank you Granger"

Hermione closed the door behind her and walked back to her bedroom. She doubted that either of them would get much sleep that night.

Before she got into bed she wrote a quick letter to Professor McGonagall and gave it to her new tawny owl, Issa. She watched the owl quickly disappear into the darkness before lying on her bed to try and get a grip on all that had happened.

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The sun was flooding her room with light when Hermione opened her eyes and she groaned as her head started pulsing. She looked over at the alarm clock and saw that it was 7:30. She'd been going over everything in her head so much that she'd only managed a couple of hours sleep.

She heard her parents moving around in the kitchen and realised that she had to get up and tell them about Malfoy. They wouldn't be too please about a stranger and potential danger being tied to the bed in their spare room. But hopefully, Hermione would have him out of here soon, depending on her meeting with McGonagall later on.

She got dressed then slouched downstairs to the kitchen where her parents were preparing their breakfast.

"Good morning Hermione dear," her mother beamed at her, "Goodness, you look exhausted! Are you still not sleeping well?"

"Um no, not really," she said, wiping the sleep out of her eyes.

"Morning Hunny-Bun," her father said, kissing her on the forehead, "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Actually, I need to talk to you both about something."

Hermione's parents both looked at her inquisitively. 'Eugh this is going to be tough,' she thought.

"Um, early this morning I had a visitor. He's a fellow student from school called Draco Malfoy."

"Malfoy?" asked her father, "Why do I know that name?" recognition dawned on his face and Hermione screwed up her face in preparation for what she knew was coming. "That's the name of the man that Arthur Weasley got into a fight with isn't it? The family who think they're better than you because they're all wizards?"

"Er, yes that was his father in Diagon Alley."

"Well what on Earth was he doing here? Did he hurt you?"

"No Dad, I'm fine. Look this might take a while to explain so you might want to sit down."

She told them what Malfoy had told her only a few hours earlier, about his mother, how he now longer wanted to work for Voldemort and about the spell.

"Oh the poor boy," her mother sighed, "Where is he now?"

"He's chained to the bed in the spare room. He was scared and he had nowhere else to go, he doesn't even know where he is!" Hermione added quickly due to her parents alarmed looks. "He's completely harmless without his wand and I think he's still too shocked to really do anything. I sent Issa to Professor McGonagall and she should be here a bit later on so that he can hopefully be moved somewhere else. It'll only be for a few more hours. You don't mind too much do you?"

Her parents looked at each other and her father sighed. "Do you trust him?" he asked simply.

"Well not totally," she answered, "I can't just forget about the six years I've known him but I think that he's changed. He's got in too deep and he wants a life of his own, not one that was determined for him by his father. Harry said that he lowered his wand to Dumbledore before Snape came up the tower. So I think that we can trust him."

"All right then, he can stay." Hermione smiled at her father gratefully.

"The poor boy must be hungry Hermione, go up and take him some food. He might not want to eat anything but it is important that he does. Here, take this." Her mother gave her a plate and put two buttered slices of toast on it.

Hermione duly took the food up the stairs and found Crookshanks lying asleep outside the spare room door. She tried to sneak past him but he woke up and followed her inside.

Malfoy was in the exact same position as she had left him; on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

"Did you manage to get any sleep?" she asked tentatively when he showed no reaction to her entering the room.

"No."

"Oh, well I brought you up some toast in case you're hungry. My mum says that you should really try to eat something."

He looked at her when she mentioned her mother. "So you told your parents then."

"Well I couldn't exactly not could I? They say it's ok for you to stay here."

"Thank them for me- and for the toast too, but I'm not hungry."

Crookshanks jumped onto the bed and snuggled up next to Malfoy on the sunlit duvet.

"Wow," breathed Hermione, "Crookshanks obviously trusts you because he isn't that cosy with strangers."

"What can I say Granger? I must have a natural charm." He said in a dead pan voice.

Hermione smiled despite the obvious lack of humour in Malfoy's voice.

"If you want to freshen up then you can use the shower. Hiding away with Snape for a few weeks must've been pretty rough! Oh, and I'm sure my Dad has some clothes that you can borrow seeing as that's all you've got."

"Thanks, yeah I could do with a shower."

Hermione undid the charm on his hand and Malfoy flexed it to make sure that everything was ok. She then took him across the corridor to the bathroom and turned the shower on for him and told him how to work it.

"Thanks Granger."

She smiled at him, "No problem."

While he was in the shower, Hermione went through her Dad's wardrobe and made a pile of clothes that he never wore anymore and took them through to the spare room for Malfoy.

Her Dad left for work soon after and told Hermione to be careful and to call him if anything went wrong. Then he kissed his daughter and wife good bye and went out the front door.

Malfoy eventually turned off the shower after half an hour and got dressed in some of Hermione's father's clothes. Then he just lay on the bed again, staring at the ceiling.

Hermione was really quite worried about him but didn't know what to do.

"Maybe I should talk to him, dear?" asked her mother.

"I don't that's such a good idea Mum. He's in a really dark place at the minute; you don't know how he's going to react."

"I realise that but I just think that he could use someone to talk to. There's too much history between you two so maybe I should do it instead."

And before Hermione could stop her, she went into the spare bedroom and closed the door behind her so that Hermione had no choice but to sit in her room and wait for her mother to come out again.

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Draco looked up as he heard the door open and close quickly again. He saw a woman in her mid forties with bushy brown hair smiling sympathetically down at him.

"Hello Draco, I'm Hermione's Mum. I am terribly sorry to hear about your mother."

Draco said nothing.

She moved forward to sit on the end of the bed while he just stared at her.

"Why don't you tell me about her?"

He sighed and sat up, feeling the tears prickling at the corners of his eyes once more.

"She-she was wonderful," he croaked, his voice sore from lack of sleep, "she always wanted the best for me and I normally got it." He laughed humourlessly. "I never told her how much I appreciated everything she did for me, n-never told her how much I love, how much I love her."

He suddenly completely broke down and Hermione's mother reached forward and wrapped him in a tight embrace. She rocked him back and forth and made shushing noises and he let all his grief poor onto her shoulder.

"She knew Draco," she whispered to him, "don't worry, she knew."

After a few minutes he began to calm down and he withdrew himself from her arms.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Granger, I-I-"

"Don't be silly Draco, you have absolutely nothing to apologise for and do call me Michelle, Mrs. Granger is far too formal." She smiled at him and squeezed his hand tightly.

"Now, I can't fail to notice that you haven't touched the toast that Hermione brought up for you. Come downstairs and I'll make you anything you want to eat. I will not take no for an answer."

Draco nodded his head and followed her downstairs towards the kitchen. Granger appeared soon after, looking at him warily but he thought it best to just ignore her. He forced himself to eat a few mouthfuls of cereal even though it tasted like card board.

"Professor McGonagall should be here soon," Granger said, "I owled her last night saying that I had to speak to her urgently. Hopefully we'll be able to find you somewhere to stay."

"Thanks Granger, er, Hermione."

Mrs. Granger beamed at him.

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Professor McGonagall surveyed the two students in front of her while she made up her mind. To say she was surprised to see Draco Malfoy inside Hermione Granger's house was an understatement. But Miss Granger had explained that she was in no danger and once again retold the events of the previous night.

The results of the Incolumitas charm were very intriguing but McGonagall doubted that she would be able to give Miss Granger what she wanted.

"You know of course, that it is not up to me whether to allow Mr. Malfoy to reside in the location best suited to him. You will have to ask Mr. Potter's permission."

"Yes, I realise that but I thought it best to consult you first. You agree then, that he should stay there?" Hermione asked hopefully while Draco looked on slightly confused.

Professor McGonagall sighed.

"I agree with you."

"Thank you Professor. I will owl Harry immediately."

"Well if that's all then I'd better be going. Miss Granger I am sure I will see you soon. Mr. Malfoy I am very sorry for your loss and I will be along to see you soon too. You may have some useful information for us."

"Thank you Professor," he said duly.

Professor McGonagall nodded at him then disapperated with a loud crack.

"Do you mind telling me where you plan on sending me?" asked Malfoy a little angrily.

"I-I can't say. Not until I have spoken to Harry. Sorry Malfoy."

He just crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows as if to say 'Whatever'.

Hermione left him in the living room and went up to her room to write an owl to ask Harry if he could meet her in Diagon Alley in a couple of hours. He only lived about a half an hours train journey from central London and as Hermione was able to apparate it would only take her a couple of seconds to get there. Ron had passed his exam re-take a couple of weeks ago but she wasn't sure whether she should ask him to meet her too; he was highly likely to cause a scene and vehemently disagree that Malfoy should be allowed a second chance. In the end she decided not to ask him. This was not really any of his business anyway.

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As she saw Harry step into the Leaky Cauldron she called his name and waved him over. He smiled as her saw her and gave her a hug before sitting down at the secluded table she was occupying. He looked how she felt- utterly exhausted. Another person who wasn't sleeping very well!

"You managed to get here ok then?" she asked.

"Yeah, the Dursley's surprisingly lent me a bit of money for the train ticket. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Ok Harry, please, please do not over react to what I'm going to tell you."

Harry looked at her confused, "Oook, I'll try my best."

"Malfoy landed on my doorstep last night."

"WHAT!"

"Harry please! Calm down, it's not as bad as you think. He's not on Voldemort's side anymore."

Harry snorted derisively.

"Hermione he loves the dark arts. What could possibly make him switch sides?"

"Voldemort killed his mother," she whispered quietly.

Harry just stared at her so she carried on. "He killed her because Malfoy didn't kill Dumbledore. He's had enough Harry. He's escaped now and there's no way he can go back."

"But how did he escape and end up at your house?"

"His mother gave him a charm that would take him to the place where he would be most safe and…he…ended up on my doorstep."

Harry's mouth had dropped open.

"I know, I know. I was as surprised as you are when he told me, but Professor McGonagall believes him as well as me. His wand is broken too so he's pretty much harmless."

"Hang on. Have you left him at home with your parents? Hermione are you mad?!"

"No Harry I'm not mad. I'm his last chance and he knows that. If he does anything to ruin this then he's as good as dead. Look, the reason that I asked you here is that I want him to stay somewhere else, somewhere that's well protected and where he can't cause much bother. Harry, can he stay at Grimmauld Place?"

"No."

"Harry! What do you mean, 'no'?"

"No he can't stay there. I don't want Malfoy at headquarters and being my responsibility. I'm sorry Hermione, but no."

"Where else is he supposed to go? He can't possibly stay with me! I'm happy to leave him for half an hour but when we go looking for…well you know what, I do not want my parents being in danger. Also, he is not your responsibility, if anything, thanks to that stupid charm, he is my responsibility! If you are worried about security then you can just lock him in a room so that he can't see who comes and goes. Please Harry! It's our only option." She gazed at him imploringly while he stared stonily back at her. Then he relaxed and sighed.

"Fine."

She got up and hugged him tightly. "Thank you Harry!"

"But seeing as he's your responsibility I think that you should move in too. That way you can keep an eye on him. We can't just leave him there on his own; he'll go mad like Sirius."

Hermione thought it over for a second. She did feel kind of responsible for Malfoy now and she knew it was the right thing to do.

"Ok, I'll do it."

"You know Ron isn't going to like this at all don't you?"

"Of course I know that- I'm just not going to tell him yet."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"If I manage to live with Draco for a few days without anything going wrong then Ron will have no basis for an argument will he?"

"If you say so…"

"I'll move us in tomorrow then if that's ok?" she asked, ignoring him.

"Yeah that's fine. It's not like I can do anything 'til my birthday anyway. I don't think it's really being used at the moment either so it'll be pretty much just the two of you. Here, I'll write the address on this napkin so that he can get in and I want an owl from you every morning and night from now on. Ok?"

"Yes Daddy," she responded sarcastically as she took the napkin from him. But he grabbed her wrist.

"I'm serious Hermione. This is Malfoy we're talking about- the Muggleborn hating Pureblood. Please be careful."

"I will be Harry, I promise," she smiled at him.

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The following day Hermione's father drove the two of them down to Grimmauld place. Her parents weren't overly thrilled about the arrangement but knew that it she was doing the right thing and were very proud of her.

Hermione's mother had picked up some more muggle clothes and other essentials for Malfoy and Hermione had bought him a couple of new robes when she was in Diagon Alley as well as a dreamless sleep potion for both of them.

When they arrived it was dark and Hermione had to show Malfoy the napkin in the light of the car so that he could read what it said. When Dumbledore had cast the original Fidelius Charm, he had modified it so that the secret would be passed on to the current owner of the house, which was now Harry.

Hermione saw him read the words on the napkin then he looked up at her expectantly. She motioned for him to look at the row of houses and smiled when she saw the look on his face change to wonder.

She said goodbye to her father and promised to keep in touch regularly. Then the two of them walked up to the front door and she unlocked it with her wand before stepping inside.

The dingy site of the inside of number 12 Grimmauld Place was pretty familiar to her by now but she hadn't been there for quite some time.

"Come on; let's get you upstairs and into a bedroom."

They found him a room that, as far as Hermione was aware, had not been used by an Order member and unpacked his stuff in silence.

When they were all done Hermione poured him some dreamless sleep potion and wished him good night.

"Look Granger, thanks for everything you've done. I really appreciate it. I guess the Incolumitas charm picked the right place."

She smiled at him and left, closing the door behind her.

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A/N Woah, long chapter! I seriously was not expecting it to be that long! Anyway in case you got confused my story is going to have a flashback every other chapter to help tell the story between these two. Hopefully they won't all be that long!

If there were any mistakes in there to do with continuity then I am very sorry but I haven't read HBP for nearly two years. I almost completely forgot that Hermione was already able to apparate and had to phone up my sister to make sure that it really happened and it was not something I read in a fanfic!

The next chapter will be a lot shorter and should hopefully be up reasonably soon!

Reviews are very much welcome and appreciated! I'm not sure whether to include a Harry/Ginny pairing in this seeing as I think I'm pretty much going to ignore the Ron/Hermione part of HBP. Let me know if you have any preference!

Thanks for reading,

Lil Drop of Magic


	3. Completing Mr Cook's Chore

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world

Thanks to bookworm3213, AnaDry and AlwaizUrLilAznGrl for their reviews! Don't worry AlwaizUrLilAznGrl that wasn't a mistake!

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"Kids, Molly, I'm back!" yelled Hermione as she apparated into the Burrow's yard. She went to open the door to the kitchen but it was thrown open before she could reach it and three children came running out.

"Mummy!" the girls cried as the three of them encircled her in a hug.

"Hey guys! How was your morning? Have you been good today?"

All three nodded smiling up at her.

"Ah, Hermione dear, we were wondering where you had got to," commented Molly Weasley as they walked into the kitchen.

"Sorry Molly, Mr. Cook wanted me to give in a case summary that wasn't supposed to be in 'til tomorrow afternoon. Luckily I had practically finished it anyway otherwise I wouldn't have made lunch today."

"Honestly! That man drives you way too hard. It's lucky that you're such a professional young lady; I dread to think how long Ron would last in your job!"

Hermione laughed as she helped her children into their places at the table.

"It's not too bad. I enjoy it really- it keeps me on my toes. Plus, I actually enjoy it. It really feels like I can make a difference."

Molly smiled at her proudly.

"What are we having for lunch today Nana Molly?" asked Seren.

"As it's such a chilly day today, I thought we could have some tomato soup to warm us up. How does that sound?"

"Yummy!" laughed the little girl.

"I'm glad to hear it!" smiled Molly as she laid some freshly baked bread on the table. She then ladled out 2 big bowls of soup and then 3 small ones and passed them to each of the children.

"Now you're going to have to be very careful with these. They are extremely hot. You can dunk some bread in the soup first until it cools down enough for you to eat properly," advised Molly.

The triplets all took some bread and proceeded to make a big mess of their lunch as the soup dripped all over the table and onto their clothes.

"Hmmm, perhaps we should have put some napkins on them first," Hermione pondered as she watched a big dollop of soup splash onto Elysia's jumper.

"Don't worry dear; I'll have those stains out easy enough."

A loud crack sounded from the yard as someone else apparated in and a couple of moments later Ginny stepped in to the kitchen.

"Hi everyone! Is there any chance of some lunch Mum cos I'm starving?"

"There's some soup left in the pot- I always make some extra just in case Ron turns up."

"Ah thanks Mum that's great!" Ginny rushed to the pot on the stove and quickly served herself some soup and took a spare seat at the table.

"Mmmmm, that's better," Ginny sighed as she swallowed some soup soaked bread.

"What are you doing here Ginny, I thought your lunch break wasn't for another hour yet?" enquired Hermione.

"Er, well it's not. I skipped breakfast because I slept in too late and I wasn't concentrating on work cos I was so hungry. Mr. Sparrow said I could take an early lunch if I promised to work harder this afternoon."

Molly frowned disapprovingly at her. "You had better be careful Ginny. You were very lucky to get that job and I don't want you to throw it away over carelessness. Look at Hermione, she has three children to look after but you never see her late or disorganised."

Hermione felt her cheeks reddening while Ginny scowled at her mother.

"Molly you know that I can only cope with help from you, Harry and Ron. Without you I'd be a complete mess!"

"I know that dear but you still have a lot on your plate and manage to cope perfectly well whereas Ginny has no responsibilities and still ends up oversleeping and such."

"Mum this is the first time this has ever happened and I don't plan on it happening again so just lay off," Ginny said as she stirred her soup moodily.

There was an awkward silence between the adults as the children happily got on with eating their lunch.

Hermione cleared her throat. "So, um anything interesting going on in your department?"

"Not really," replied Ginny, (she worked in the Department of Magical Games and Sports at the Ministry of Magic.) "We've got the Australian national Quidditch team coming over tomorrow for the world cup qualifier and we're hosting an international Gobstones tournament in a weeks time but nothing exceedingly interesting. You are bringing the kids along to the Aussie match aren't you?"

The children upon hearing this looked at Hermione pleadingly.

"Please Mummy, please can we go?" begged Elysia. Hermione frowned.

"I don't know, you know Quidditch isn't really my sort of thing." Hermione said uncertainly. The truth was she thought that the game was far too violent for small children to watch and she didn't really want her kids to be encouraged to play a game where they could so easily get hurt.

"Please, please, please!!!!" the two girls implored while Cato stuck his bottom lip out and made his eyes big and sad.

'Huh! What masters of manipulation my children have become!' She thought, 'I bet they've picked that up from Ron when he wants the last biscuit or something!'

"You don't have to come with them," reasoned Ginny, "Harry, Ron and I can look after them while you can have an afternoon off for once!"

Ah, an afternoon off. She hadn't had one of those for ages. It certainly did sound appealing…

"All right," Hermione sighed, "you can go."

"Yay!" the girls cried and Cato smiled broadly.

Once lunch was cleared away Cato showed his mother the painting that he had done that morning. It showed, or at least Hermione thought it showed, the triplets, Hermione, Ron and Harry. She was really quite impressed with the painting seeing as he was only three.

"Oh Cato it's lovely! Shall I take it into work and pin it up on my board?"

The boy nodded happily and stuck his arms up, asking to be carried. Hermione reached down and enclosed him in her arms before telling the girls it was time for their nap. They moaned but duly followed Hermione up a couple of staircases to Ginny's old room where there were three beds. She tucked each of them in then stood over them for a few minutes before she was convinced that they had drifted off to sleep.

Walking back into the kitchen she found a cup of tea waiting for her so she carried it into the living room where Molly and Ginny were seated.

"Were they ok this morning Molly?" she asked.

"They were fine dear, no problem at all."

"Did- did Cato say anything?" she enquired, trying to sound nonchalant.

"No dear, I didn't hear him say a word."

"Oh, ok," she said trying not to sound too worried.

"I'm sure it'll be soon dear. Try not to worry about it too much." Molly reached out and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze while Ginny smiled reassuringly at her.

They spent the next few minutes discussing the huge increase in price of some potion ingredients due to strikes in Northern Europe before Molly declared that she had to do some washing.

"So how's my idiot brother?" asked Ginny playfully, "Is he still hooked to that muggle television you have?"

Hermione laughed.

"Yes he is. It's most odd I have to say. He can't get enough of it! The number of times I've had to wake him when he's fallen asleep on the couch from watching TV! I wouldn't be surprised if he begs me to buy him one for his birthday so he doesn't have to fight with the kids over what we watch!"

"You'd better not otherwise you'll never see the lazy git again!"

"Hmmm well that could have its advantages too I suppose!" joked Hermione and they both laughed.

"What about Harry? How's he?"

"Oh you know- he's just Harry. He just gets on with his everyday life, never complains but never seems to be really enjoying himself that often either."

"Oh," replied Ginny staring into the bottom of her mug. "Is he seeing anyone at the moment?" she asked trying to sound casual.

Hermione frowned. She knew where this conversation was headed.

"You know very well that he isn't and that he hasn't seen anyone for nearly four years now. Ginny how many times have we been through this? I thought you were going to move on?"

"I can't," she whispered vehemently. "I can't switch my feelings off like a button. Do you think I want to continue pining after a guy who keeps pushing me away? I wish I could stop loving him but I just can't help it."

Hermione grabbed her hand.

"Come on Ginny I know you can do this. It's not impossible. I did it…" she trailed off as her heart panged painfully.

"Right, I saw what you went through, how much it hurt you and I don't believe you're over him anyway."

"What! Of course I am!"

Ginny scoffed. "Ok, so are you saying that if you bumped into Malfoy today you wouldn't have any romantic feelings for him whatsoever?"

"Er, Well, no I," Hermione spluttered.

"See it doesn't work. You can't turn you heart off Hermione. I'm not going through the pain anymore. I'm not going to give up on him."

Hermione sighed.

"Are you sure Ginny? Cos Merlin knows I want the two of you together again."

"I'm sure."

"Ok. Look, I'll try my best to help you out but we've tried this before and it didn't work then. I just don't want you to get your hopes up."

"I know. But what sort of a person would I be if I just let the love of my life drift away from me. Not someone I'd be proud of that's for sure."

Hermione placed a fake smile on her face as she wondered whether Ginny was making a dig at her.

She looked at her watch and saw that she had five minutes before she had to go back to work.

"Oh, Ginny, I'm sorry but I've gotta go."

They both stood up and Hermione gave the younger witch a tight hug.

"I promise that we'll talk about this soon, ok?"

"Yeah, thanks Hermione. I really appreciate it."

"Hey, of course I'm gonna help you! You're like a little sister to me!" Ginny smiled at her and Hermione went to go and say goodbye to Mrs. Weasley.

"I'll see you about 5 O'clock then Molly."

"Ok dear, I'll see you then."

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Hermione's job in the International Magical Office of Law was extremely similar to that of a muggle lawyer. The only real difference was that her cases all involved magic! She loved the fact that she could work for all different species' rights and felt that she really made a difference. It was basically a step up from her SPEW campaign of a few years ago but she represented a much larger population now. There was the odd case where she didn't wholly agree with her client's actions or what they wanted from the case but she was a professional and always tried her hardest to win.

The truth was that Hermione was exceptionally good at her job. This was mostly due to her high intellect and the fact that she hated to lose, but it also helped that she was one of Harry Potter's best friends. No matter if she was standing in front of the Wizengamot or a dangerous animal hearing she would be able to clearly present her case and then undermine the opposition. She won 98 of her cases and despite the fact that she had only been working in the Office of Magical Law for about three years; she was easily the best in her profession.

As soon as Hermione got into her office she walked over to her notice board and pinned up Cato's painting. Her office was decorated with pictures of the people she loved, especially photos of her children. Her clients and work colleagues often commented how beautiful her kids were and it made always made her swell with pride.

She looked down at her desk and saw that a folder three inches thick had been placed there. She sat down and sighed before reaching for the mass of paper. 'Well I might as well get started on this then!'

A couple of hours later, when she was not even halfway through the folder, her boss walked into her office.

"Not busy are you Granger?"

"Er, No sir, no," she stammered as she tidied the pages of the folder, "Is there something I can do for you?"

Mr. Cook was about thirty years her senior with greyish hair and a dour personality.

"Yes actually; I need you to go and choose a birthday present for my wife. I'm absolutely no use at getting them for her- she never really likes them. Here I'll give you the money for it."

Hermione stared at him open mouthed for a few seconds before coming to her senses and taking the offered purse from him.

"Yes of course Mr. Cook, sir. Is there anything in particular you'd like me to get or avoid?"

"No, no. I trust your judgement. I'm sure you'll do a very good job."

Hermione left the office fuming at herself and her boss. 'Damn it Hermione! For future reference you're busy, you're always busy!' she cursed herself silently.

She knew perfectly well why she was being sent on this excursion; she was a woman. All the other people in her office were men and despite the fact that she was the best and no doubt the busiest worker there she had to waste her time choosing her boss' wife a birthday present.

This stunk.

She hurried down to the Atrium and flooed into Diagon Alley. She went into a jewellery shop first and immediately spotted something that would suffice as a present- a necklace that began to glow when the one you loved drew near. Of course, if Mrs. Cook loved someone other than Mr. Cook the gift could be a bit ah, problematic but Hermione really didn't care. She paid the shop keeper and stepped out into main alley again.

'There that wasn't too hard was it? Surely Mr. Cook could've done that?' she seethed as she strode quickly back up the alley. 'Men!'

As she walked past Flourish and Blotts a large sign in the window caught her attention.

'Up to 50 off on selected items'

She stopped and bit her lip, her temper rapidly receding. How often did she get to go shopping nowadays? Surely it wouldn't hurt to just take a peek…

Hermione made her mind up and quickly stepped into the store. She walked along the aisles scanning the titles to see if anything on the shelves caught her interest.

In the Arithmancy section a new book caught her eye. It provided fresh theories on the Pietersen problem- an intriguing arithmantic puzzle that was considered to be impossible. She flicked through a few pages and just knew that she could not put this book back; she had to read it!

Still flicking through the book she made her way towards the counter. As she walked through the potions section another customer stepped backwards when she was right behind him. Not paying attention to where she was going and caught completely unawares, she yelped and toppled into a bookshelf, banging her head hard against one of the wooden supports which knocked her unconscious before a great deal of books cascaded on top of her.

"Granger?" a voice asked concernedly shaking her gently. The voice sounded male and familiar but distant. 'Perhaps it was Harry or Ron?' she thought.

"Hermione can you hear me? You need to show me you're ok."

"Ron?" Hermione groaned uncertainly.

The hands withdrew themselves immediately.

Hermione opened her eyes and blinked them a few times before they adjusted to the light. Her whole body was aching and looking down at herself she realised that she was covered in books.

Then she looked back up to where the voice had come from and felt her breath catch in her throat and her heart freeze.

For none other than Draco Malfoy, the father of her children, was gazing concernedly down at her.

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Thanks guys for reading! Would really love your reviews cos they make me want to write more!

Lil Drop of Magic


	4. A Malfoy Interested in Muggle Culture!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world

Hello all! Another flashback chapter for you! I find these ones a little harder to write so that's why the wait was a bit longer.

Just a note for you so you don't get confused between the different points of views; when the two main characters are written as Hermione and Malfoy this is when the story is predominately from Hermione's point of view but when it is Granger and Draco it's Draco's. That's not too confusing is it?

Anyway, thanks to bookworm3213, mia, AnaDry and HermioneRulz for their reviews!

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Summer after Sixth Year

Mid-June

Hermione was sitting in the study reading a book on unusual charms when the doorbell to Number 12 rang. Cursing as that blasted portrait of Mrs. Black began screeching she hurried out of the room and yelled out for Malfoy to shut the old woman up while she answered the door.

As she crossed the hallway with her ears ringing, she smiled as she thought of how Malfoy's demeanour had improved from the sullen, brooding young man who had entered the house a few days ago. Although things between them were still a little awkward and tense, they were able to have civilised conversations and no major arguments had arisen. He had gradually come back to his normal arrogant self and Hermione was somewhat relieved to see it- this Malfoy she knew how to handle!

The doorbell was ringing repeatedly and she started to get very irritated. "Hang on, hang on," she grumbled as she heard Malfoy run up the stairs from the kitchen, "give us a minute!"

She reached out and turned the lock before yanking the door open to reveal a very pissed off looking Ron Weasley standing on the doorstep.

'Oh Shit' she thought as she took in the red head's obviously agitated state.

"Er, hi Ron," she tried to smile innocently, "what a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here?"

"Don't play games with me Hermione. Where is he?"

"Who?"

"That egotistical twat Malfoy of course! Are you insane Hermione? Have you forgotten who Draco Malfoy is, what he's done?"

"Get inside Ron, you're making a scene," she snapped as she pulled him into the house. Her eyes sought out Malfoy in the gloom of the hallway as he looked towards them to see who was at the door. She sent him a worried look but he didn't quite understand her concern until Ron caught sight of him too and launched himself towards the blond wizard.

"No!" Hermione yelled as she felt Ron's clothes being wrenched out of her grip but he paid no attention to her as the two wizards tumbled to the floor and started to exchange blows. She whipped out her wand and cried "Stupefy!", the beam of light striking Ron in the small of his back.

Malfoy instantly rolled away and stood panting against the wall for a few seconds before once again trying to shut the curtains over Mrs. Black's screaming portrait.

Hermione squatted down next to Ron to make sure that he was ok before frowning up at Malfoy. "Did you really have to hit him back?"

"It's a natural instinct Granger. If Weasley is trying to ruin my good looks then I'm just going to try and worsen his unfortunate features to protect myself!" he drawled back over the screeching painting.

She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, help me take him down to the kitchen will you?"

"Are you sure that's wise Granger- I mean there are a load of knives and other sharp implements that he could throw at me down there."

"Don't be stupid! Ron's not going to try and hurt you."

Malfoy looked at her incredulously.

"Were you- were you not watching a moment ago? He was trying to knock the living daylights out of me!"

"Don't worry, he'll calm down in a minute. And, if he doesn't then I'm just gonna have to stick him to the chair so he can't move! Now give me a hand."

"Why don't you just levitate him down?" he asked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Oh, I…Oh yeah, good idea." She looked slightly embarrassed as she floated Ron downstairs and positioned him into one of the chairs. Malfoy picked up an apple from the fruit bowl then sat in a seat further down the table to look back at them.

"Do you mind Malfoy? I think that you being in the room is just going to make things worse."

"No way! You'd think I'd actually miss this?!"

Hermione sighed.

"Fine. But if you start winding him up then you're out of here!"

Malfoy shrugged and took a bite of his apple.

She swallowed nervously then whispered, "Ennervate." Ron's eyes fluttered open and he looked slightly confused for a moment before glaring at her.

"What did you stun me for?" he asked sulkily.

"You were attacking Malfoy!" she stated surprised that he even had to ask. Ron looked down the table at Malfoy who smirked back at him while munching on his apple.

"Stupid prat deserved it," he muttered, "have you forgotten what happened a few weeks ago?"

Hermione winced at the memory of that night but managed to control her voice. "I remember. Plus, I'm sure you remember Harry telling us that Malfoy lowered his wand- he wouldn't have killed Dumbledore."

"What about me and Katie Bell? We nearly got killed too!"

"An unexpected bonus," Malfoy muttered quietly but not quietly enough as Hermione sent him an extremely dark look and Ron made to move out of his seat but she pushed him back down.

"Voldemort was threatening his parents Ron! What would you do if you had your parents' lives in your hand? Come on Ron, tell me what you would do in Malfoy's shoes?"

Ron looked down at his feet and muttered something incomprehensible.

"Sorry Ron, I didn't quite catch that?" Hermione asked impatiently tapping his feet.

"I still don't understand why you're here with him. He's a Malfoy, Hermione-"

"I know perfectly well who he is Ron."

"And you still trust him?!" he asked incredulously.

Hermione paused and looked at the blond Slytherin. He simply stared back at her, not doing anything.

"No," she said slowly, "I've never trusted him and I still don't…yet."

This set Ron off completely.

"What the hell are you doing with him then? He's never going to change, NEVER! His stupid ideologies have been bred into him, they're a part of who he is! Think of all the things he's said to you, the number of time he's called you a, a you-know-what, he even wanted that bloody Basilisk to do you in! Hermione, listen to me; you're making a huge mistake," he pleaded.

"He's changed." She said, gritting her teeth. "Things are different now, he's seen what things are like on Voldemort's side and now he's out. I know the things he said about me, he said them _to me_ remember! I'm not going to deny that they hurt at the time but this is something so much bigger than name calling, this is life and death Ron."

"I'm not going to sit here and let you make this mistake. You're, you're my girlfriend and I will not have you living here with that Snake."

"What? Ron Weasley you are unbelievable," she said sarcastically. "You are SO prejudiced! Malfoy has been big enough to get past his but you! You can't get past the fact that his surname is Malfoy and that he is a Slytherin. Here's a quick question for you Ron; whose house are we in?"

"Harry's," he answered, looking slightly confused.

"Before that," she snapped irritably.

"Sirius'," he said sullenly.

"Right. We're in the Black's house; one of the darkest families in wizarding history. Yet, what about Sirius? Was he or was he not a member of the Order of the Phoenix?" Hermione asked in a voice that was crackling with anger.

"He was." Ron answered grumpily.

"Did he or did he not leave home because he rejected his family and his heritage due to their love of the Dark Arts."

"He did." Ron said quietly.

"Do you not think it slightly possible that Malfoy can do that too? I hate to think what Sirius would say to you now about your prejudice. Like I said before, Malfoy's over his, the death of his mother may well have contributed to that but I hope that nothing nearly as horrific has to happen to you, for you to get over yours."

Ron rose slowly from his seat and looked down at her.

"You are not staying here with him."

She stared back up at him defiantly.

"Try and stop me."

"Hermione, don't make me force you…"

She stared up at him open mouthed.

"Why can't you respect my decision? You can't trust Malfoy, fine, I understand that because I don't either, but why can't you trust me?"

"I…I'm sorry Hermione. I can't do it."

"You and I are never going to work if you can't trust me Ron. Please!" She grabbed the front of his robes and looked pleadingly into his eyes but he refused to soften his gaze.

"I think you've got your answer Granger," drawled Malfoy who was looking on interestedly. Ron glared at him but Hermione let go of his robes and looked sorrowfully up at the red head.

"He's right Ron. You've given me your decision." Tears formed in her eyes as she whispered the next words, "We're over."

"What?" he snapped.

"I'm breaking up with you!" she seemed so surprised to be saying it but there was a steely determination in her voice.

"You're breaking up with me, because of Malfoy?!" asked Ron, his voice and his body quivering with anger.

"No not because of Malfoy, because of you!" cried Hermione. "You're being narrow minded and pig headed; plus you don't respect me and my decisions. How could I possibly be with someone like that?"

"You don't mean that," said Ron disbelievingly.

"I do Ron. I really do." The tears threatened once more in her eyes and she swiped them away hurriedly. "Now, I think you should leave." She said quietly avoiding his gaze.

"No, Hermione I-"

"She said to leave Weasley, so get lost!" drawled Malfoy from his seat at the table.

"Stay the hell out of this you little ferret!" snarled Ron his entire face turning red.

"Ron just leave, please!" Hermione begged trying to push him out of the door.

"Hermione-"

"GET OUT RON!"

He looked down, startled at Hermione's outburst, then, with one last glare at Malfoy he stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the front door on his way out.

She flinched at the sound and sank heavily into the chair previously occupied by Ron. After a few seconds her shoulders shook and her body became wracked with sobs.

Malfoy sat uncomfortably in his seat, unsure of what to do having never been confronted with a crying girl before. As Hermione continued to cry silently in front of him he rose from his chair and awkwardly patted her on her shoulder while clearing his throat.

"Don't waste your tears over that buffoon Granger. He's not worth it. You deserve way better than Weasley," he scoffed.

Hermione slammed her fists down on the table making Malfoy jump before she let out a frustrated scream.

"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! He just makes me so angry!" she yelled. "Why can't he just support me? It can't be that hard to do!"

"It's _Weasley_, Granger. He finds the simplest things difficult to complete."

She glared at him. "You're not helping."

"You know funnily enough Granger I've never had to console someone who's just broken up with their idiot of a boyfriend so this is all new territory to me. A few pointers on what I should do would be helpful."

Hermione, unsure whether he was being sincere or not, simply ignored him and cuffed away the tears remaining in her eyes. She looked around the room to try and think of something to change the topic and spotted the dishes still stacked by the sink from their tea earlier.

"You still haven't done the dishes," she stated looking at him expectantly.

Malfoy did a double take at her words, clearly not expecting her to talk about his laissez-faire attitude towards cleaning.

"Errrr ok, I was just about to start them when Weasley arrived anyway."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, clearly not convinced.

"Ok I wasn't- but couldn't you do them instead? It only takes a couple of flicks with your wand whereas it'll take me ages to do it the muggle way."

"Whatever," she sighed and, as Malfoy said, with two flicks of her wand the dishes were soaking themselves in warm water while a brush scrubbed them clean.

Malfoy smirked at her, thankful that he had managed to wheedle his way out of washing up.

"Now come on Granger, I'm sure you don't want to boss me around all evening," he said as he steered her up the stairs and out of the kitchen. "What do you like to do to make yourself feel better? Read a book?" he asked with the slightest hint of mockery in his voice.

She let Malfoy guide her back towards the study while she thought over his question. What did she like to do? Well reading was obviously something she enjoyed immensely but she did that quite a lot when she wasn't upset. Right now she felt a bit like she wanted to shut herself in her room and cry but she was damned if she was going to let Ron Weasley cause her to display such miserable behaviour. So what else did she like doing?

With steely determination she turned around to face him and her face lit up into a smile. "Go and grab a jacket Malfoy, we're going to the cinema!"

"Cine- what?"

"It's muggle thing where you watch a story being played out by actors on a big screen. It's really fun!"

Malfoy crossed his arms and frowned at her.

"Now why on Earth would I want to waste my evening doing that?"

"What exactly were your plans for the evening then considering that I've just done the washing for you?" Hermione scoffed. "Was there a particular patch of wall that you were hoping to stare at?"

"Well now that you mention it…"

"Oh come on Malfoy, you haven't been out of the house since we've arrived here! You're getting pale!"

"I've always been pale," he shot back at her. "Why can't you just go on your own?"

"You don't go to the cinema on your own. Anyone who does is just sad. (A/N sorry to anyone who does go on their own!) Anyway, I've basically broken up with my boyfriend because of you, plus I've agreed to live here with you; I think you kinda owe me this."

"Fine," he scowled at her. "But it better be worth it Granger."

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"So, what's going on now?" asked Malfoy.

"Will you just shut up and watch the film?" whispered Hermione, severely tempted to throw some popcorn in his face.

Although he was trying to show the opposite, Malfoy found that he was very much enjoying himself. The film was something that Granger had called a 'chick flick' or a 'romantic comedy' which, she explained was mainly for girls but he thought it was good fun.

There was no way that he was going to let Granger know that though. He could only deal with so much change in the last few weeks and going from a muggle hater to a muggle lover was a bit too extreme for him.

The film continued with him constantly asking her questions and her just refraining from whacking him round the head. As the credits rolled up the screen Hermione pondered that perhaps a romantic film was not quite the genre she should have chosen as she felt mild depression over her break up with Ron lingering over her. Malfoy looked at her expectantly obviously unsure about what was supposed to happen next.

"Come on," she mumbled, "let's go."

It was quite late in the evening by now and Hermione shivered slightly in the cooler night air and stuffed her empty popcorn carton into a nearby bin.

"So, did you enjoy that then?" she enquired, trying to make like of the situation.

"It was tolerable I suppose. Had a bit of soppy ending though; I mean what man in his right mind would declare his love in front of all those people?" he scoffed.

"Hey! Not all men are as closed up and emotionless as you, you know. I happen to think that it was a lovely ending; very romantic." She sniffed as she felt her spirits plummet a bit more.

They were making their way back to a bus stop seeing as Malfoy could not apparate and Hermione didn't really have enough money for two extortionate, London taxi rides.

Malfoy had found the journey to the cinema by bus rather fascinating. Hermione had told him to leave the talking to her and to find an empty seat when they got on. Having never ridden the Knight Bus he had no experiences of public transport and he was keen not to make a fool of himself in front of the muggles. She had let him sit up the top at the front so that they could see where they were going and he got a somewhat child-like pleasure when she let him press the bell before their stop.

Now, as he looked down the streets he saw that there were a number of places that had people queuing outside while bright lights flashed within.

"Hey Granger, what's going on over there?" he enquired, pointing at one of the queues.

Hermione looked round to where he was indicating.

"Oh that's a nightclub." Malfoy looked at her expectantly, obviously wanting her to elaborate. "It's a place where people have some drinks and dance and stuff."

"Can we go in?" he asked staring once more at the club and the people waiting outside.

"No," said Hermione flatly.

"Why not?" he asked, looking disappointed.

"You have to be 18 to go clubbing in the UK and we are both 17."

"Well we can just tell them we're 18- they've got no reason not to believe us."

"You need to prove to some bouncers that you're 18 with some form of identification like a passport or driving licence. And seeing as you own neither of those, not to mention that they would both show you to be 17 anyway, we can't get in."

"Oh but can't you do a Confundus charm on these 'bouncers' to let us in? Come on Granger I really want to see what it's like. Look I'm actually showing an active interest in muggle culture; me! A Malfoy!" He looked like he was summoning up some courage before he said the next word. "Please?"

Hermione looked at him carefully considering her options. On the one hand she would have to perform magic on muggles, which she really objected to-plus she'd be breaking the law- _just like everyone in the country my age_ she reasoned. Surely it couldn't hurt to take Malfoy into a club. He had been perfectly well behaved on the bus and she suspected that he had enjoyed going to the cinema a little more than he was letting on.

"Ohhhh all right then," She relented, "but I might have to adjust our clothes a bit cos it'll be really hot in there especially if we do some dancing too."

Malfoy beamed at her, which Hermione realised was the first time she had seen him show happiness in a form other than a smirk.

She pulled Malfoy behind some bushes so that no one would see her performing magic and transfigured her long jeans into a short denim skirt, her pink blouse into a strappy t-shirt and her trainers into some smart heels. Then she changed Malfoy's shirt to a short sleeved t-shirt and made all his clothes light weight so he wouldn't feel too hot.

"There, that's better. Are my clothes all right Malfoy?"

His eyes raked over her body and he smirked as she turned around so he could check the back too.

"The skirt's good! I have to say Granger that I never knew you had such lovely legs."

Hermione blushed and scowled at him.

"I meant did I transfigure them ok?" She said as she punched him on the arm. "Are there any mistakes?"

"They're fine. If all the women are dressed like you then I can't wait to get inside."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him and stalked from behind the bushes to stand in the queue outside the club while he hurried to catch up with her.

As they got closer to the entrance Malfoy became more impatient while Hermione got increasingly nervous. She fingered the wand in her bag unsure of how exactly to do the magic without anyone noticing. Finally they were the next pair to go through and while the two bouncers were looking the other way she quickly muttered the spell and tucked her wand back into her bag.

One of the thick-set bouncers looked at them and immediately said in a deep, gravelly voice, "Right, in you go you two."

"Cheers," smiled Hermione as she hurriedly sidled past them before they changed their minds, Malfoy dutifully following behind her.

As she opened the door to the club her ears were met with a blast of sound and she recoiled slightly but Malfoy gave her a little nudge and they went in together.

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'So this is a night club' thought Draco wryly as he surveyed his surroundings. The club was quite dark and very busy, while some sort of music blared out all around him. Granger and he were sitting at a high table in a slightly quieter section of the club each with a drink. The drinks had been Granger's idea seeing as she was the only one with money. Neither of them felt quite up to dancing straightaway so she had bought a couple of drinks from the bar. Draco was not entirely sure what he was drinking but he was enjoying it and they were both on their fifth of the night. He had been slightly worried that she had spent too much money for them to get the bus back but when he had shouted his concerns to her she happily yelled back that it was 'Student night' whatever that meant.

Having experimented with some of his father's firewhiskey a couple of years ago he knew he was a little drunk but decided to simply enjoy the slightly light headed situation he found himself in. Life in the last couple of weeks had, after all, been somewhat hard-going.

Glancing at the girl opposite from him, Draco could tell that Granger was feeling the effects of the alcohol somewhat more than he was. Her eyes were slightly out of focus and when she spoke to him her speech was slurred. But the sight of the bossy, up-tight bookworm drunk amused him greatly as she laughed and giggled in front of him. To be honest he was very glad that she was a happy drunk and wasn't getting all teary and upset over her break up with Weasley.

"Hurry up and finish your drink Malfoy, I wanna dance!" she yelled at him so he could hear her over the music.

He switched his gaze to the dance floor. He had been studying the dancers quite a lot to determine what sort of dancing was appropriate for this situation. Most of the men he watched looked pretty appalling in his opinion but he managed to deduce that not a lot of moving was required and it was more like lots of little steps and hand movements in the crowded space.

He downed his drink and offered the happy brunette his hand. She stumbled slightly as he led her to the others dancers and they squeezed their way into the middle of the floor. It was impossible to move without hitting someone else but the two of them didn't mind as they picked up the rhythm and danced like everyone else there.

Within a couple of minutes Draco found himself beginning to get hot and he was glad that Granger had modified his clothes and he also noticed with a smirk at her swottiness, that she had made them sweat resistant! _Only Granger…_ he thought.

After they had been dancing for about 20 minutes Draco realized that Granger had attracted some attention from a male muggle. The man was dancing behind her so that her bottom was positioned in front of his crotch and Granger (still a bit out of it) was completely unaware of the effect she was having on the guy. He was reasonably good looking from what Draco could tell in the darkness and he scowled as the man grabbed hold of her hands. Finally aware that someone else was trying to dance with her, Granger looked up and smiled friendlily at the guy and made to turn around so she could see him better. But before she could, Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her back round towards him while looking at the guy and pointing at himself to show that she was with him. The guy shrugged his shoulders and moved on to find someone else while Granger frowned up at him.

"What did you do that for?" she yelled into his ear, her speech still a bit slurred.

"You can't just leave me completely surrounded by muggles; you're supposed to be looking after me! Plus I'd look really pathetic dancing on my own," he shouted back.

Granger frowned at him a little longer but then got over it and started dancing again.

As he continued to dance Draco noticed out of the corner of his eye that a particularly beautiful muggle kept shooting him furtive glances. He smirked at her when she next looked at him and she raised her eyebrows at him which he took to mean 'come over here and dance with me'. However he had only moved a couple of feet when he felt Granger holding him back and looking round he saw she looked a bit angry. He looked forlornly at the pretty muggle and mouthed a sorry to her before he let Granger pull him off the dance floor to somewhere a bit quieter.

"Look Malfoy," she said poking a finger into his chest, "If I can't go off with someone then you can't either."

"Fine," he said grudgingly and he folded his arms looking slightly put out.

"We only dance with each other, ok?"

"Yes, ok, whatever!"

"Good!" she smiled at him.

Draco frowned at the thought that Granger was still able to boss him around even when she was drunk and followed her back into the middle of all the dancers.

The songs all sounded pretty similar to Draco and they all rolled into another so that it felt like he had been dancing for hours. Just when he was about to pay a visit to the toilets Granger managed to trip over her feet and he was just able to catch her before she hit the floor. As he looked down to see if she was alright he found himself looking into her eyes and he felt his breath catch in his throat.

He could not explain it. He had never thought of the Gryffindor as particularly pretty (although she had scrubbed up well for the Yule Ball) and there were at least a dozen women more beautiful than her in the club, but he could not stop staring into her eyes.

Whether it was because of the slightly hypnotic rhythm of the music, the alcohol or a completely different reason he was not exactly sure but he found himself slowly leaning towards her beautiful brown eyes as they fluttered shut and he captured Granger's lips in a kiss.

As soon as their lips made contact he felt his heart rate increase and the music of the club got somewhat quieter as he let himself enjoy the sensation of kissing Hermione Granger.

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A/N Wow another long chapter! I had actually planned to go on a little bit further but that seemed like a really good place to stop. I don't expect the next chapter to be up for at least another couple of weeks because I really wanna try and read all the HP books before the last one comes out in a few days! I realise that I'll probably fail in my task but never mind!

I had nearly 300 hits for chapter 3 alone and only 4 reviews so I would really appreciate it if more of you could just spend a few seconds telling me what you think of the story so far!

With the release of book 7 imminent now I just want to reassure you that I will be carrying on with the book regardless of what happens!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy Deathly Hallows and Order of the Phoenix (I'm going to see it tomorrow! Wahoo!)

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic


	5. Blame Betty

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world

Thanks to MHxxPAPER DOLL, Yea-Its-Just-Me, x-Lazart-x, AnaDry, .Smart.Ass.Punk., AtomicKittenOnTheLoose and StarPower2009 for their reviews.

Chapter 5- Blame Betty

"M…Malfoy?" she gasped as she stared into a face that she knew so well but hadn't seen in over three and a half years. "No. No, no, no this can't be happening," she moaned as she pushed a few books off her body.

"I can assure you Granger that I am 100 per cent real. Here," he drawled as he grabbed her hand to help her sit up properly. She stared at him open mouthed, seemingly unable to comprehend that the situation she found herself in was not, in fact, a nightmare.

"I know it's been nearly four years since you last clapped eyes on me Granger and I have, obviously, become a lot more good looking but you don't have to gape at me that much." His smirk and laid back tone drew her back to her senses. The father of her children was squatting right next to her! She had to get away from him as quickly as possible.

Malfoy jumped backwards in alarm as a few books went flying towards his face as she tried to clear herself from the mess. "Hey watch where you're flinging those books Granger! You nearly broke my nose!" She glared at him but didn't say anything before she started clearing the books covering her legs. "You really should look where you're going you know," he continued, "I thought you'd really injured yourself given how many books fell on you."

There was a slight crowd around them now and the manager was looking aghast at the mounds of books littering the floor around the witch. He squealed when he recognised the young lady wincing on the floor as she removed the last couple of books from over her feet.

"Oh Miss Granger are you all right!" he cried, seeing one of his favourite customers shakily gathering her possessions from around her.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine- just a little achy Mr. Connolly," she sighed as she made to get to her feet.

However, as soon as she put weight on her it her right ankle and head gave extremely painful jolts and she felt herself tumbling back to the floor again but was saved mere inches from the ground by a pair of strong arms encircling her chest. She knew instantly that it was Malfoy holding her but she found herself not caring and instead concentrated on gritting her teeth against the pain. She placed a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, breathing deeply.

"It seems to me Granger," she felt his chest rumble against her back as he spoke, "that you are not _fine_ at all." She felt him remove one of his arms from around her chest and hissed when his hand traced over her ankle. "Yes, it looks broken to me and from what I can make out through your nest of hair it appears that you have a sizeable bump on the side of your head."

"Oh." Was all she could really think to say to his diagnosis and she straightened up with her weight on her left leg and tried to extricate herself from his embrace.

"I don't think that's a particularly good idea Granger," he drawled refusing to let her out of his hold. "We don't want you back on your bottom again do we?"

She looked up at him and saw him smirking down at her but she noticed that his eyes were softer than they were back in her school days and she felt her heart start beating a bit faster as she realised how close she was to him. She mentally shook herself and wrenched herself from his grip and hobbled over to lean against a slightly precarious bookshelf.

"Perhaps you should visit a healer Miss Granger? Ankles are too tricky to mend for a normal witch or wizard" the manager said looking concernedly at her.

"Yes," she agreed with her eyes screwed tightly shut, "yes I think you're right Mr. Connolly."

Before she knew what was happening someone had swept her up into their arms and cradled her against their chest.

"Wha-" she spluttered and looking up caught a glimpse of silvery blond hair. "Malfoy what in the name of Merlin are you doing? Put me down now!"

"I am taking you to the healing practice at the end of Diagon Alley. I don't think your injuries are quite serious enough for St. Mungo's Granger so a simple stop to the practice should have you sorted out in no time," he drawled smirking down at her while she struggled in his arms.

"Let. Me. Down!" she cried.

"No."

"Malfoy-"

"This is the easiest way for me to take you so that your ankle doesn't get more messed up Granger. I can't exactly levitate you down the street now can I?"

"I will not have you parading around like some chivalrous, egocentric git while I'm in your arms like some pathetic damsel!"

"Is it just the manner or the person carrying you that has you objecting Granger?"

"I- I,"

"In case you hadn't noticed, apart from the manager and I, there are only witches left in the shop and I hardly think that they would be able to support you."

She stopped struggling instantly and glared up at him.

"What exactly are you implying?"

"Nothing offensive Granger I assure you. Simply that these lovely ladies are not as substantial as I and should they attempt to carry you it might cause you to knock your foot or head on something. Whereas I can keep you covered and protect you unless, of course, you start struggling again because you are bound to knock into something considering how narrow Diagon Alley is. Anyway, I believe I owe it to you considering I knocked you down. Plus I can't have people saying how inconsiderate I am can I? I do have a reputation to keep up!" He smirked at the witches that were still hovering near them while the manager busily tidied up the books that were on the floor.

"Now," he looked down once more at Hermione, "do you agree to stay still until I get you to the practice?"

Hermione, resting in Draco Malfoy's arms considered her options; she could let Malfoy carry her to the Healing practice which would, no doubt, be extremely embarrassing and potentially dangerous to her home situation or she could hobble down the street causing herself a lot of pain while looking like a complete idiot. She sighed and knew she had no choice really and hoped that she would be able to get rid of Malfoy quickly.

"Yes, fine!" she snapped, "just hurry up and let's get this over with."

He smiled and started to edge through the crowd. Completely humiliated at having to be carried like she was a child and not a fully grown witch she buried her face into his chest so that the people in Diagon Alley wouldn't know that it was her.

His scent was achingly familiar and it made her senses reel as though this was a treat that they had been denied for so long.

She sneaked a couple of covert looks up at him and noticed that he had indeed become more handsome that when she had last seen him. He had still been an adolescent back then but there was no mistaking that he was a man now. Encased in his arms and breathing in his distinct scent she found herself relaxing and felt the pain in her head lesson slightly.

However, something Ginny had said to her earlier floated into her consciousness and she became tense once more. _"Ok, so are you saying that if you bumped into Malfoy today you wouldn't have any romantic feelings for him whatsoever?"_

'Damn it' Hermione thought, 'trust the fates to poke fun at me'

Feeling slightly relieved and slightly disappointed at the same time she soon felt Malfoy reaching out to open a door and he gently lowered her down so she could stand on her uninjured leg.

They smiled at each other for a moment before Hermione quickly looked away and hobbled over to the reception desk. Behind the counter sat a kindly looking elderly witch who looked concernedly up at the young witch before her.

"What seems to be the problem my dear?"

"I was in Flourish and Blotts when there was a bit of a collision and I knocked into a bookshelf and er, a number of books were deposited on me."

"Oh dear! Do you have any serious injuries?"

Hermione made to respond but Malfoy spoke first.

"It looks like her ankle is broken and she has a nasty bump on the side of her head."

The witch noted this down on a piece of parchment. "Oh, sorry dear, I forgot to ask your name?"

"Hermione Granger"

She waited as the receptionist spelt out her name and then smiled up at her.

"If you'd like to take a seat Ms Granger we should be able to get you seen to in about an hour and a half."

"What!" she screeched. "An hour and a half?!"

"Yes, I'm afraid we have a rather busy practice today." She gestured over to the waiting area where a number of witches and wizards sat perusing through magazines or sat in silent contemplation.

Hermione let Malfoy steer her into a seat in silent fury. 'This is ridiculous,' she thought and glared around at the other inhabitants of the waiting area. 'None of them even look ill!'

She became aware of someone sitting down next to her and jumped when she saw Malfoy occupying the seat.

"I don't need you to wait with me, I'm wholly competent of sitting still for a bit." She snapped.

"You and I know perfectly well that you are incapable of staying still for more than ten minutes so I'm keeping you company Granger."

"I assure you that that is quite unnecessary," she replied coolly.

"Whatever you say Granger."

And to her annoyance he just sat there and looked casually around the room, nodding at the other occupants that smiled at him.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" she asked annoyance clearly evident in her tone and her features.

"Nope. I'm in Wizarding London for personal business; I have a meeting at the Ministry tomorrow but today my schedule is quite blank."

She started to feel nervous that she was going to be stuck here with him for a while and decided that her best tactic of keeping him away from her was to ignore him. She picked up an edition of _Witch Weekly_ from the coffee table and resolutely held it up in front of her face so he couldn't see her and turned it to the first page.

However, as he was unable to see her face she was unable to see him and her breath hitched in her throat and she dropped the magazine when he reached out and grabbed her fingers.

"You still wear it then?"

She followed his line of sight and saw him fingering a silver ring that had a coloured band running through it that was placed on her index finger. She blushed heavily and the band changed from a pale green colour to a deep scarlet.

"Er," she cleared her throat that had suddenly gone dry, "yes. It can, um, come in useful; Harry and Ron can be a bit dense at times and this can give them an inkling into how I'm feeling.

She smiled up at him and he squeezed her hand gently before the receptionist called out for one of the other patients to go through and Hermione quickly snatched her hand back and hid once more behind the magazine.

'What are you doing?' she berated herself, 'there's a reason he doesn't know about the existence of his children remember? Do you want him to find out? Think how much trouble that would cause.'

The next quarter of an hour passed slowly for Hermione as she looked through the magazine without really reading it. Another couple of patients were called through while Malfoy sat silently next to her. She wished he would just leave. But, she supposed at least he wasn't talking to her like she thought he might.

Her head gave a particularly unpleasant lurch and she glared up at the receptionist knowing, of course that it wasn't her fault that the practise was so busy but it helped to direct her anger at someone.

She briefly considered laying down the fame card; she was Hermione Granger after all- best friend of Harry Potter and co-defeater of Lord Voldemort, brightest witch of her year and highly accomplished worker in the Office of Magical Law. But she knew that she would hate herself for doing it. Plus, the receptionist hadn't given any hint to show that she had heard of the name so her boasting was unlikely to get her very far.

Her ankle gave another excruciating throb and she gasped at the pain. With a growl she quickly hobbled up to the reception desk looking murderous at the witch behind it.

"Look, can't you give me something for the pain?" she thought there was no point in trying to be pleasant and decided to get straight to the point.

"Hurting a bit then Granger?" Malfoy had followed her up to the desk to make sure she didn't fall over.

"I've had worse," she muttered though her mouth twitched slightly as she recalled the events of a night just over three years ago.

"Well my dear, I do have one pain relief potion that I can give you while you wait to see the healer but I should warn you that it's a strong sedative and will knock you out for an hour or so."

"Well seeing as, according to you, I've still got at least an hour's wait I don't think that should be a problem." 'Plus' she thought relieved, 'it means that I don't have to talk to Malfoy.'

The witch handed Hermione a flask full of a pink coloured mixture which she downed instantly and was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted nice. The pain in her head and ankle instantly eased and she felt quite drowsy.

"You- you really should go now Draco," she yawned up at him. "I don't think I'll be great company when I'm asleep." Her eyes drooped as she looked up at him and she found that she couldn't resist their pull and shut them.

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A bright light suddenly penetrated her consciousness and she moaned groggily and pushed herself into a sitting position and opened her eyes blearily. She was sitting on a treatment table in a relatively small room while a large woman in lime green robes was looking over some parchment and Malfoy was standing in a corner looking at her, his face expressionless. She noticed that her head still ached terribly but her ankle felt fine.

"Ah, finally!" the healer said when she realised that Hermione was awake. "I fixed up your ankle in a matter of seconds and I made an assessment on the injury on the side of your head and as far as I am aware you just have a nasty bump and it's nothing too serious." She said this all very briskly and matter-of-factly and Hermione had trouble taking it all in.

"However," she continued, "as a precaution I think it best that for the next 48 hours you refrain from travelling by apparition or floo powder- or the Knight Bus for that matter, goodness knows you'll bang your head at least a dozen times on that death trap! Travelling by these methods could antagonize the bump and could cause considerable pain or may even make you faint."

It took moments for what the healer said to sink in and when she realised the repercussions she yelped.

"I'm not allowed to floo or apparate?! But- but I've got to be at the Burrow in," she looked down at her watch and saw that it read a quarter to seven. She shrieked again making the healer and Malfoy jump.

"Quarter to seven! Sweet Merlin I should've been there nearly two hours ago to pick up the-" she stopped abruptly when she realised that she'd nearly blurted out about the kids in front of their father, "er- the documents." She finished somewhat lamely as she had always been rather abysmal at lying.

"Why is it so late? The receptionist said I'd only be asleep for an hour!" she cried as the ring on her finger turned a bright turquoise.

The healer avoided her eyes and looked once more down at her parchment and began addressing it rather than her.

"It seems that Betty made a bit of a mistake with the dosage. We have been exceptionally busy today so it was a simple mistake to make. We let you rest here, in the spare treatment room while I dealt with the other patients. There was no point in treating you until the potion was about to wear off."

"I knew you'd be livid Granger." Malfoy smirked at her while she glared back at him.

"But how am I supposed to get my stuff from The Burrow if I can't get there magically?"

"What's the big deal?" he drawled but looked slightly amused at how much she worried over a few papers. "Just ask Mrs. Weasley to owl it to you."

"I- I can't! I need them now, they're really important!" God she was awful at lying.

"Important enough to leave them at the Weasley's?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"I needed Arthur to go over them for me," she invented quickly. Her heart was beating rapidly and her stomach fell full of wriggly worms. They must all be so worried- if she knew she was ever going to be late then she'd always owl ahead to let them know but there was no time for an owl now.

She screamed in frustration and her head throbbed painfully. She needed to think clearly. How was she going to let them know what had happened? There was no way in hell that she'd let Malfoy anywhere near The Burrow. Who could she ask to help her then? Harry and Ron would be waiting for her with the kids or else one of them may be looking for her. And then it hit her; Ginny! If she hurried then maybe she could get a message to Ginny before the redhead left work at seven.

"Malfoy d'you think you could go to the Department of Magical Games and Sports and get Ginny for me?" her eyes silently pleading with him.

"Er, ok Granger," he looked a little surprised in her change of demeanour but walked towards the door anyway. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

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Draco left the healing practice and quickly apparated into the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. To say that today had turned out completely different to how he had expected it to be was an understatement.

He thought that he'd be able to cope with seeing her again but he had quite obviously been kidding himself. Just looking at her made his heart beat twice as fast. Of course he'd be damned if he was going to let her see how much she affected him so he tried to act as though she were any other witch from his Hogwarts days. There had been the odd moment when he had nearly lost control like when she'd buried her face into his chest- Merlin that had felt good- or when he noticed the ring on her finger. He honestly didn't know why he had stayed with her all afternoon especially when she'd been sleeping; it hurt to be with her and yet he couldn't seem to remove himself from her presence.

He quickly reached the correct department floor and walked through it until he caught sight of a redhead standing behind a desk packing up her things.

"Weasley," he called and she looked up. The reaction that she gave him surprised him a little because she looked unbelievably shocked; her eyes were very wide and her mouth hung open she even looked a little scared which he didn't quite understand considering when he had last seen her they had been on relatively amicable terms.

"Malfoy!" she gaped at him.

"Granger told me to come and take you to her."

"Her- Hermione sent you? But she should be…" she paused obviously confused. "Where is she?"

"In the Healing practice on Diagon Alley; there was a bit of an accident in Flourish and Blotts. She's fine really but she's not allowed to apparate or floo anywhere because she knocked her head. She was getting her knickers in a twist about some documents that she'd left at the Burrow and told me to get you."

"Hermione never leaves stuff there in case they get lost," Ginny mumbled still looking slightly bewildered but then suddenly her eyes widened and she looked fearfully at him once again. She quickly packed up the rest of her stuff and then the two of them make their way back to the Atrium in silence.

When they made it back to the Healing practice they found Granger looking very pissed off in the now empty waiting area. As soon as she saw them she jumped up and he saw Granger surreptitiously point her wand at him and suddenly found a sort of buzzing filling his ears.

He could see the two witches talking and could hear faint noises but he couldn't make out what they were saying. He jerked his head violently from side to side as though he had got some water stuck there but the buzzing persisted. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ginny nod and place a hand on Hermione's arm reassuringly before she scurried out of the practice.

The buzzing suddenly lifted and he looked at her accusingly. "Muffliato?" he enquired raising an eyebrow, "was that strictly necessary?"

"The papers are top secret and I can't risk anyone finding out about them."

He scoffed, clearly unconvinced, but didn't say anything.

"Look, thanks for helping Malfoy but I've really got to get home." She gave him a small smile and touched him gently on the arm. Then, without another look at him, she quickly hurried out of the practise.

He was left somewhat disorientated by her touch and quick exit and stared at the doorway for a few moments. He sniffed the air and realised that he could still smell her vanilla scent and he started to breathe it in heavily. When he realised what he was doing he stopped mid-breath and nearly choked.

He could've kicked himself; he was furious. 'I am not going to fall in love with Hermione Granger again' he swore to himself.

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Hermione pad the taxi driver with some money that she had quickly exchanged at Gringotts and hurried up the front path of their flat. She quickly keyed in the code to get in and unlocked the door to their ground floor apartment.

"I'm here!" she called, "I'm back!"

She dumped her stuff and hurried into the living room where she could hear the television on. She saw Cato looking upset on Ginny's lap while the girls were on the floor watching what looked like _Cinderella. _The three adults looked up when she entered looking concerned and Cato flung himself off Ginny and into his mother's arms.

The girls also got up to give her a hug but they kept an eye on the TV.

"Are you all right Hermione? Ginny said you'd had some sort of accident and had been to a healer." Harry scooted up on the couch so she could sit down next to him.

"Cato go and watch the film sweetie," she prised the little boy off her neck and placed him on the floor before holding a hand to her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine really." She sighed and told them what had happened in the bookstore, about the potion making her oversleep and that she wasn't allowed to travel magically for a couple of days.

"But how come you were able to contact Ginny then?" Ron asked his brows furrowed.

"Oh," she averted her gaze, "Malfoy was there, he was the one who knocked me over."

"Malfoy?" Harry asked slightly surprised, "I haven't heard from him in years. What's he up to nowadays?"

"I dunno really. He just said that he was in London on personal business."

"I heard he'd moved to the south of France and was building up little businesses down there," commented Ron.

"How'd you know that?" asked Ginny surprised.

"It's part of my job to check up on people who were known to be involved in the Dark Arts," he replied.

"I wonder why he moved to another country?" pondered Harry while Ginny shifted uncomfortably.

"I suppose Wizarding Britain holds some pretty bad memories for him," supplied Hermione hating where this conversation had turned to, "I mean, what with his mother's death and his father's disownment of him it must be kind of hard to be back here."

Deciding that she didn't want to talk about Malfoy anymore Hermione changed the subject. "Have they eaten and everything?" she indicated the kids sitting on the carpet and Harry nodded. "They weren't too upset were they?"

"Cato was crying a bit but I think they liked getting to play for a bit longer. Oh yeah, Mum wants an owl from you to let her know that you're ok." Ron handed her a bit of parchment, quill and ink that was sitting on a shelf near him.

She checked her watch and, seeing that it was nearly half seven, decided that it was time for the triplets to head to bed.

"But Mum," Seren whined, "I wanna finish watching the film. She hasn't even gone to the ball yet!"

"You've seen it a hundred times already!" exclaimed Ron, "She goes to the ball, falls in love, there's a load of fuss over a shoe and then they all live happily ever after! There, story finished. If your mother says it's time for bed then it's time for bed." Hermione looked at him shocked; Ron was hardly a disciplinarian.

"And anyway," he added, "it's nearly time for _Eastenders__!"_

"Fine girls, you can finish the film," Hermione said, grinning maliciously at the outraged expression on Ron's face while everyone else laughed. He grumbled moodily and scowled when the girls started singing _Bibbiti__ Bobbiti Boo_ extra loud just to annoy him.

Still grinning, Harry left to go and make dinner.

"Do you need a hand?" Ginny started to rise from her seat.

"No, no, I'll be fine."

Ginny sat back in her seat looking disappointed.

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An hour later Hermione quietly closed the door to her children's bedroom and rested her head against the cool wood. She could not believe how close things had come to crashing down around her ears.

Seeing Malfoy had been extremely painful but at least she had managed not to let slip to him that she had given birth to his children just over three years ago.

She certainly hoped that he would deal with his personal business quickly and leave for France so that her heart would go back to its normal steady beating- whether it was racing through fear of seeing him finding out about his kids or the excitement of seeing him again she wasn't sure.

"Hermione, dinner's ready," called Harry from the kitchen.

She sighed and walked down the corridor towards the others.

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She knocked quickly on the door and opened it when the man inside gave her permission to enter.

"I'm ever so sorry for my absence yesterday afternoon Sir; I'm afraid I was involved in a bit of an accident."

"That's quite alright Granger, I had an owl from a Healer in the Diagon Alley Practise saying that you'd been injured."

Hermione had requested that the Healer who had treated her do this so that she had authentication for her absence.

"I have the present for your wife though Sir, and your change, here." She handed him a package and the purse he had given her the previous day.

"Thank you Granger, I knew you wouldn't let me down. Now, before you go, there's a new case that I want you to start working on."

"But I'm already working on a case Sir."

"Forget that one, give it to Edwards instead, this one is much more important and deserving of your attention. It's a difficult case and I think you're probably the only one who could pull this off, it's going to need all you skill Granger."

Despite the fact that she had now wasted a couple of hours working on a new case yesterday, she found herself eager to find out what this one involved.

"Apparently, one of the occupants of Azkaban is dying and their son wants to let him live out his last few weeks in his rightful home rather than inside a prison cell."

She could see where this was going and privately agreed that everyone deserved to choose how they died and to live their last few days in peace.

There was a knock on the door.

"Ah, that should be the son, I told him to meet me this morning. Enter!" he called loudly.

'You have got to be kidding me?' were Hermione's last thoughts as the bump on her head gave an excruciating throb and everything went dark.

A/N I'm in a bit of a rush so I'll make this quick. The chapter hasn't been properly read through so I apologise for any mistakes.

I though OotP was the best film yet and I really enjoyed DH even though some of the deaths actually left me feeling a little empty inside.

I got 7 reviews for my last chapter so let's be ambitious and aim for double figures for this one lol!

Anyway, thanks to reading,

Lil Drop of Magic

Ooohh PS Love and cookies go to those who get what the ring's about!


	6. An Unforgettable Birthday

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been such a long wait! I hope this extra long chapter makes up for it!

Please remember that this is, of course, an AU and that some things are going to be different because, quite frankly, I want them to be different! Also, the Horcrux search is not a particularly important part of my story so there won't be very much on that.

Lots of love to my reviewers: x-Lazart-x, pstibbons, Emma-Louise 1993 (those were the deaths that totally cut me up too!), Gueneviere, Kayy, hpwwefan, .Smart.Ass.Punk., dragongirl89, Queen Red Rum, ONIX-21, LollipopsandSunshine, angelqt1231, bookworm3213, aylababylycan and MHxxPAPER DOLL.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world

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Chapter 6- An Unforgettable Birthday

Summer after Sixth Year

Mid-June

Their embrace was suddenly broken as Granger squealed and jumped away. Confused as to why she had done this, Draco looked nervously down at her but saw that someone had spilt their drink onto her leg. He glared at the person who was responsible for interrupting them before he felt Granger's gaze. The two of them stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before she appeared to shake herself from some sort of trance and placed a hand to her head as though it was beginning to ache.

"Ummm, I think maybe it's time that we, er, left."

He didn't exactly hear her over the blaring music but he got the gist of what she was saying and he nodded mutely in response.

'What the hell just happened?' he asked himself. He stared around the nightclub as he left, hoping to find an answer somewhere as to why he had kissed Hermione Granger.

It wasn't as though he was repulsed by her anymore- his mother's death had rocked his ideals and made him see that he was no better because of his blood or family name. And he couldn't deny that she could be very attractive when she wanted to be. It's just- she was Granger.

Put like that, he knew it sounded very stupid but it was, quite simply, true. She was Hermione Granger; a girl he had spent six years detesting for, what now seemed like purely trivial reasons such as her friends, her swottiness and her blood. They had been destined to hate each other from the minute they were sorted into Slytherin and Gryffindor. There was so much animosity in their history that, at times, he found it difficult to see past when she had slapped him, or helped turn him into a giant slug or beaten him in every single exam.

Things had changed so drastically that he found it hard to believe that only a couple of months ago he merely thought of her as a mudblood and wished her dead, whereas tonight he had been snogging her on a muggle dance floor. There was only so much change he could take.

What he also didn't quite understand was Granger's behaviour. Ok, so she hadn't deepened or really responded too much to the kiss but she hadn't pushed him away either. He was pretty sure that she didn't detest him anymore; she had just broken up with Weasley because of him after all. Ah, of course, _Weasley_.

She must've been on the rebound- and not to mention quite drunk. She would've welcomed some sort of comfort from another man, even her former enemy. Draco was surprised to feel that this conclusion made his chest feel oddly constricted but decided to ignore it and act as normal as possible as he followed Granger towards the bus stop.

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One thought kept stumbling through her slightly fuzzy mind; 'Draco Malfoy just kissed me. _Draco_ _Malfoy_ just kissed me. Draco Malfoy just _kissed_ me.' Her addled brain could not fathom why he had done it or, more worryingly, why she had liked it so much.

She pondered the first problem as they waited in silence at the bus stop, both lost in their thoughts. Was he quite drunk too? Had he been confused by the nightclub environment and thought that, since they were dancing together, it was his obligation to kiss her?

Or, she realised, perhaps he was still reeling from the death of his mother. Of course she knew that it would take a while for him to get over it, especially if he was stuck in Grimmauld Place, but maybe he wasn't coping as well as she'd previously thought. That seemed like the most logical explanation, combined with the alcohol, as to why pureblood spokesperson Draco Malfoy would want to kiss boring, muggleborn Hermione Granger.

Their bus pulled up to the stop and Hermione quickly paid their fares then hesitated slightly before she sat next to Malfoy. She tried to sneak a couple of glances at the blond Slytherin without him noticing but she needn't have worried as he just stared intently out of the window.

She'd shared a few kisses with Viktor and Ron but they'd all been very awkward. Her kiss with Malfoy on the other hand had left her completely dizzy and disorientated but it had felt, quite simply, right and that fact scared her a little.

She'd only broken up with Ron a few hours ago- surely she shouldn't be having feelings for Malfoy? _Malfoy_ of all people! The boy who'd called her names, tried to get Hagrid fired and strived to make her and her friends' lives as unpleasant as possible. She had, for the most part, forgiven him the majority of these offences seeing as she was now his last resort and they needed to cooperate now that they were living together. But to develop feelings for him was an entirely different matter.

Merlin, she could just imagine Harry and Ron's reactions if they found out what had happened that night; they'd be furious, especially Ron. For starters they had been out in muggle London where anyone could have found them and on top of that they'd been drinking a fair amount of alcohol. Hermione shivered as she imagined how easily she would be defeated if a couple of death eaters came upon them now. Her shocking kiss with Malfoy had sobered her up a bit but she knew that she would be a bit unsteady on her feet and her reaction times would be much lower than normal. Moody's cry of _Constant Vigilance_ ran through her thoughts and she cringed guiltily. Perhaps going out tonight had been a pretty bad idea after all.

However, she believed that her best friends would react worst to the part where she and Malfoy had kissed. She had kissed their arch nemesis- well, to be fair, he had kissed her but she had done nothing to stop him. She knew they would see this as a huge betrayal of their friendship and would not get over it easily if they ever found out. But that shouldn't be a problem as she had absolutely no plans to inform them of what she had gotten up to that night.

Hermione was so deep in her thoughts that she only just remembered to press the bell in time. The two of them quickly got off the bus and walked briskly to Grimmauld Place. Now that they had mulled over the events in the nightclub the air was very awkward between them. Neither of them seemed to want to break the silence and so they carried on without a sound up to the door of Number 12.

Malfoy waited for her to open the door and followed her inside, both of them keeping quiet so as to avoid waking up Mrs. Black's portrait.

They mumbled an awkward goodnight to each other and disappeared upstairs to their rooms, grateful to be away from the others' presence.

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For the next couple of days, things between them were very uncomfortable. They tried to keep out of each other's way and when they were forced together at meal times they barely spoke a word and avoided eye contact. It seemed that an unspoken agreement had been forged between them that neither would mention what had happened in the club. However, in reality this just meant that they both thought about it constantly instead.

Despite thinking about the kiss and what it meant for the majority of her time, Hermione found that she still couldn't come up with a definitive answer. Also, much to her annoyance, she found that her feelings towards Malfoy did not diminish with the absence of alcohol in her system. She often found herself staring at him and her heart would skip a beat when he entered the room.

However, soon after their night out, Hermione and Malfoy barely found themselves alone in the house and were forced to forget their newfound awkwardness around each other. McGonogall visited them a couple of mornings after the 'incident' to drill Malfoy about all he knew of Voldemort and his plans. She also informed the two of them that Grimmauld Place would once again be headquarters to the Order now that there were a couple of permanent residents.

Hermione was worried that Malfoy would become somewhat of a recluse when the Order members started to show up over the next few days but he seemed completely at ease with their presence. The members on the other hand, were not too pleased with his company and it took a while for them to accept him.

He wasn't allowed into actual Order meetings but they would discuss certain issues with him to get his viewpoint on the matter. With his upbringing being heavily involved in the Dark Arts he could offer an insight into what the Death Eaters might be doing.

Despite the presence of many of the Weasley's at Order meetings, Hermione was yet to see Ron since their argument in Grimmauld Place's kitchen. Mrs. Weasley had taken a moment to try and apologise for him but Hermione had quickly changed the subject to Bill and Fleur's imminent wedding. There was no way that she was going to let Ron get out of this without a proper apology.

And so, when a letter from Harry arrived asking her to meet him in the Leaky Cauldron later that day she had a sneaking suspicion that Ron would be the main topic of conversation. Sure enough, no sooner had she sat down opposite her best friend did he ask;

"What happened between you and Ron?"

Hermione glared at Harry for a moment.

"What makes you think something happened?"

"Ginny told me that Mrs. Weasley let slip about you staying with Malfoy at Snuffles'. Apparently he stormed out of the Burrow and well, Ginny says that he won't talk about what happened next but she got the impression that you two had an argument."

"She's correct."

There was a pause. Hermione wasn't entirely sure what Harry wanted her to say so she just waited for him to talk instead.

"What did he do?"

"He couldn't trust me and respect my decision to stay with Malfoy. He probably would've dragged me out of there if Malfoy hadn't been in the room too. If you want me to forgive him Harry, then that's just too bad because I'm still livid at him. Why couldn't he have faith in me?" She fixed Harry with a saddened expression, imploring him to give an insight into the redhead's behaviour.

Harry was slightly uncomfortable with the way this conversation had drifted; he wasn't particularly knowledgeable when it came to inner feelings and reasons. He guessed it was a gender thing.

"I think it's not that he doesn't trust you, it's that he doesn't trust Malfoy."

"But you don't trust Malfoy and you didn't have a problem about me being with him."

"Yes, but you asked me outright and explained it to me. Ron heard it from his mother and by the time he got to you he probably got himself so wound up that I doubt anyone could've changed his mind."

Hermione sighed, he probably had a point.

"Ok, so maybe I should have told him in person but it still doesn't excuse his behaviour."

"I know," Harry agreed, "but it's _Ron_."

Hermione scoffed.

"That's your defence of him? _It's Ron!_"

"You know what he's like. He doesn't really have very much of his own and he can get really possessive of stuff that he considers his."

"I am not _his_. I am not an object for anybody to own." Hermione said angrily.

"I didn't mean it like that," said Harry quickly. "Look, I'm not here to apologise for him- honestly." He added, seeing Hermione's sceptical look.

"It's just…" he trailed off and looked at Hermione with such a serious expression that it made her pause in her breathing. "Do you still want to help me?"

Hermione looked at him, surprised.

"Of course I do! You know I do."

"I can't have you and Ron with me if you're going to be at each other's throats."

Hermione made to interrupt him but he cut her off.

"This is going to be hard- a hundred times harder than anything we've ever done before. We're talking about life and death here Hermione. People are dieing and going missing every day-"

Hermione reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Harry," she said in a soothing voice. "I'm not gonna be mad at him forever! Anyway, do you really think that we wouldn't put our personal differences aside in the face of what's going on out there? People are counting on us and I'm hardly going to let them down am I?"

Harry let out a tense breath and grinned sheepishly at her.

"Thanks Hermione, you really don't know what that means to me."

She smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

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"Why are you and Potter always in here?"

Hermione glanced up from the book she was reading and saw Malfoy leaning against the wall of the study.

"We're not _always_ in here- Harry's not in here right now," she pointed out, returning her gaze to the page she was reading.

"Very funny Granger," he drawled as he pushed himself away from the wall and sat down in one of the armchairs.

"We're taking the opportunity to read up on the Dark Arts; the Black family have a rather extensive range of books on the topic."

"So you three plan on beating the Dark Lord by reading a load of books?" he asked sceptically.

"It helps to know as much about the oppostition as possible. If they're going to use dark magic on us then I'd like to know if there are any counter spells. And we don't plan on just reading books; there's just not a lot we can do at the moment with the wedding coming up and Harry not being of age."

"So what plans have you got for when that stuff's out of the way?"

Hermione sighed.

"You knew I wouldn't be able to tell you the answer to that question before you even asked it so why did you bother? Not even the rest of the Order know what we're doing Malfoy."

"I know," he scowled. "I'm just so bloody bored here and thought that maybe I could help."

"You've already been lots of help for the Order-"

"I've given my opinion on a handful of discussions. That's it."

"You have no idea how helpful your insight is on these matters! With Snape gone we have little to go on when it comes to what the Death Eaters might be thinking or doing. You're being of greater help than you think."

"Don't patronise me Granger. I would hardly call my opinions insightful. The members never really seem to listen to me anyway. You know Granger I get the feeling that they do not, in fact, trust me. I wonder why?" his asked, his voice dripping in sarcasm. Hermione marked her page and closed her book.

"You can't expect them to trust you straight away, Malfoy. They have no evidence that you have switched sides except my word. I was the only one who saw you the night you landed on my doorstep; they didn't see the pain and anguish that I did. Unless you want me to show them all my memory of that night using a pensieve I suggest you practice a little patience. They'll come around soon. Once they see you're committed to this cause then they'll be more willing to take on your advice. In a couple of weeks things will probably have died down enough for you to do some reconnaissance work for Moody or something."

"Moody says that I won't be able to leave here for a while because certain issues need to be cleared up." Malfoy stared angrily at his right knee while Hermione looked at him confused.

"Issues? What issues?"

"There's been a break out from Azkaban." He paused and looked up at her. "My father's escaped."

"What!" Hermione cried, "Why didn't you tell me straight away?"

"Kingsley just sent the message with his panther. Ten other Death Eaters escaped along with my father."

Hermione groaned.

"That's just what we need; more Death Eaters running around recruiting and causing destruction everywhere." She turned her attention back to Malfoy and saw that he was once again staring at his knee.

"What does this mean for you?" she asked him in a slightly nervous voice.

"I'm not going back to the Dark Lord if that's what you're thinking." Malfoy glared at her. "That path is forever closed to me now. He would kill me on sight."

"But your father…"

"Father will want me dead too. He always loved mother more than me."

"Malfoy, I'm sure that's not true-"

"Do not be arrogant enough to presume that you know my father better than me Granger." Malfoy cut her off, his temper rising again. "The Dark Lord will have poisoned him against me, told him that Mother's death was all my fault-"

"But it wasn't your fault!" Hermione cried.

He let out a cold, mirthless laugh.

"Albus Dumbledore was lying wandless in front of me and I failed to kill him. I knew that my family would be in danger if I didn't succeed and yet I still couldn't do it. It was my fault that Mother died. I was too weak to save her." He laughed coldly again. "Father always said that the weak should have been strangled at birth. I bet that he wishes he'd done that to me now."

"Stop that, Malfoy." Hermione whispered, tears forming in her eyes at the amount of self-hate evident in his voice. She swallowed and blinked her eyes furiously before moving to crouch down in front of his arm chair. "You are not weak."

He scoffed and turned his face away from her.

"No, look at me, Malfoy." He looked hesitantly at her. "You're not weak. You did the right thing."

"If I did the right thing then why is my mother dead?" he asked, his voice choked with emotion.

"The right decision does not always have the best outcome." Hermione soothed, reaching out to grab his hand. He flinched when their hands made initial contact but Hermione guessed that this was mostly because her hand was freezing cold. "You stood up to Voldemort."

He flinched again but relaxed when she started rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand. "Do you have any idea how brave that makes you? More powerful wizards than you would have given in to his demands. You decided to take your life into your own hands and, although I never really met your mother, I'm sure that she would be glad to have sacrificed her own life so that you could live yours. Any mother would do the same."

"How would you know?" he spat as he wrenched his hand from her grip and nearly knocked her over as he walked to stand by the empty fire place.

"Obviously I don't really know, not being a mother myself, but you always hear about how much love a mother has for her child. Look at Lily Potter- she gave her life for her son."

"My mother did not have a choice to give up her life; it was taken forcibly from her."

"I know, Malfoy, but you have got to get yourself out of this hole." Hermione stressed as she moved to stand next to him. "When the time comes you have to make your mother's death worth something. Show Voldemort that he made a mistake of making an enemy out of you."

"Oh I'll show him, Granger, don't worry about that." Malfoy said, his eyes staring into the dark, sooty fireplace.

"You saved your soul that night. You do realise that don't you?"

Malfoy turned around to look at her quizzically.

"My soul?"

She placed a hand on his chest and smiled up at him.

"It's still in one piece in there."

"Since when are you an expert on souls?" he asked as he returned the smile.

"I wouldn't exactly call myself an expert but I know a couple of things about souls and what becoming a murderer does to them."

"I'm not a murderer," he whispered.

"I know." Her smile widened and she stepped a bit closer to him. "You did make the right decision."

She hesitated slightly before she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. He stiffened at her embrace before he relaxed and hugged her back, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"I know."

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"Hermione, hurry up otherwise we'll be late!" Harry called up the stairs.

"I'm sure nobody will really care if you two are a bit late, Potter. It's only a wedding." Draco drawled from where he was leaning against the wall.

"You and I both know that Mrs. Weasley will be furious if Hermione and I miss even a second of the ceremony. What are you doing there anyway? I thought you were going to organise the reports today when, what was it you said: you have 'a bit of piece and quiet in the house.' This is the emptiest Grimmauld Place has been in weeks."

"I know that, Potter, but Granger said that there was something she wanted to give to me before she left."

Soon after the break out from Azkaban, Draco had been given a lot more responsibility and was even inducted into the Order. He had a feeling that this had mostly been down to Granger. He suspected that she had managed to convince most people that he was on their side for good now and that they were safe to start trusting him more.

It was still too dangerous for him to go outside of the house so the Order had decided that Draco should be there for everyone to give their reports and feedback to. It could be extremely boring at times but at least he got to hear all the latest news first. He was not, however, the most organised of people and had received a ticking off from Moody about the jumble of parchments that was supposed to be a chronicle of what was happening in the world.

"And, not that it's any of your business, Potter, I have already organised the reports from July. I only have these three weeks of August left to do before I can waste away the rest of the day by staring at a wall. Still, it's probably more interesting than what you're going to have to sit through. Marriage ceremonies are soooo dull Potter."

"Now, now, Malfoy. You're just jealous that you don't get to have any of the Wedding food afterwards," called out Granger's voice from the staircase. "I can always bring you back some of the cake if you want."

"I think I can live without it thanks." Draco replied sarcastically.

He was just in the process of rolling his eyes when she emerged from the staircase into plain view and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Granger looked beautiful. There were no other words to describe her. She was wearing a floaty, lilac-coloured dress with matching high heels and her hair was sleek and shiny. Suddenly aware that he was staring at her with his mouth open, he cleared his throat and shook his head slightly.

"Well Granger, you actually look quite nice for once."

"Thank you, Malfoy. That is indeed high praise coming from you!"

"So, um, you wanted to give me something?" he asked unable to take his eyes off her.

"Oh yes! I have it in my bag." She rummaged in a small beaded bag while she walked towards him. "Ah, here it is. We found it abandoned in Diagon Alley. It's been checked for any abnormalities and it seems ok. We thought that it was about time that you had one so, here." She opened out her palm and there, resting on it, was a wand.

"I hope it works all right for you. Why don't you try it out before Harry and I go?"

"Er, all right." He reached out and picked up the wand. It was slightly lighter than his previous one and about an inch shorter. It had been over two months since he had last held a wand and performed magic.

"_Wingardium Leviosa" _

"Malfoy! Put me down, now!"

"What's the matter, Potter? I was just seeing if this wand worked ok for me but if you're really sure then I can let you down." Draco removed the spell and Harry fell the four feet back to the floor.

"I knew that it was a bad idea to give him a wand," muttered Harry as he pulled himself onto his feet and brushed off his robes. "Can't we take it back, Hermione?"

"Oh come on, Harry, don't be such a baby. You know you'd probably do the same thing if you hadn't done magic in a couple of months. Right, we'd better be off. Try not to forget about the reports Malfoy and do use your magic responsibly please; I don't want to come back to find the walls painted green and the furnishings all silver."

"Yes _mother_!" The sarcastic reply was out of his mouth before he could stop it. They both looked at each other shocked for a moment before breaking into awkward smiles.

"Er, see you later then, Granger, Potter. Try not to fall asleep in the ceremony."

"Bye Malfoy," called Granger as they stepped out of the front door to apparate to the Burrow.

He had a wand.

He could not believe that he was free to do magic again! Living life like a squib had been so boring and time consuming but now he could do anything he wanted with just a flick of his wrist- well, inside the confines of Number 12 anyway!

Perhaps now that he was able to do magic, Moody might let him go outside every now and then. He hadn't been out of the house since his night out with Granger and that was two months ago! His mind wandered through the events of that night, particularly their kiss. He still thought about it often and little things she did would make his heart beat faster and his stomach feel a bit fluttery. He knew that he was infatuated with her and also that there was little he could do to diminish his feelings whilst he was living with her.

He supposed that he shouldn't be surprised that he had developed feelings for the one person who had treated him like someone worth knowing since his mother's death. She spoke to him as though the past years at Hogwarts hadn't happened and he appreciated being given a second chance. The talk that they had shared after Lucius's prison break had greatly eased his conscience and taken a huge weight off his chest. He would never act on his feelings though; if Potter and Weasley ever found out about that kiss then he'd probably be thrown onto the street! No, it was definitely better to keep his mouth shut about the way he felt for Granger- a lot less pain all round. Now, what colour should he decorate her room, green or silver?

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Hermione walked down the staircase of Grimmauld Place towards the kitchen. She was feeling a little depressed today for one simple reason; everyone had forgotten. It was her birthday today and everyone had forgotten, well, almost everyone. She had received some presents from her parents this morning via her owl Issa. Being muggles they saw her 18th birthday as her coming of age and had sent her some beautiful gifts along with a bottle of champagne.

If she had expected some sort of celebration or even a bit of recognition for today being her birthday from the other occupants of the house then she was sorely mistaken. Everyone had acted perfectly normally to her and Hermione had quickly come to the conclusion that they had all forgotten. She supposed she shouldn't really blame them considering how busy everyone was with what was going on in the Wizarding World but it still hurt a little bit.

She had spent the day making notes on some useful potions that the three of them could take on their future Horcrux travels. They had successfully managed to trace Slytherin's locket underneath the floorboards of Kreacher's 'bedroom' and, thanks to Hermione's research, they had been able to destroy that piece of Voldemort's soul.

It was a quarter past six in the evening now and Hermione had decided that she'd better start getting dinner ready because she doubted that neither Harry, Ron (who had moved into Number 12 after Fleur and Bill's wedding), nor Malfoy would make it. She reached the door to the kitchen and opened it to find the room in complete darkness. She muttered a charm to turn the lights on and nearly jumped out of her skin when a large group of people shouted out to her;

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Hermione stumbled backwards in shock and put a hand to her heart which was beating wildly.

"Oh my God!" she breathed and then beamed at the people standing in front of her: Harry and the Weasley family (minus Ginny, who had been forced back to school and Charlie, who was in Romania) were there along Remus and Tonks, Kingsley Shaklebolt, Mad Eye Moody, various other Order members and Malfoy. "I thought you'd all forgotten!"

"Oh don't be silly, Hermione dear," said Mrs. Weasley as she hurried forward to give her surrogate daughter a hug, "We're not busy enough to forget someone's birthday!"

Over the next hour she talked to all the different guests while everyone helped themselves to a buffet that Molly had prepared. She received numerous gifts and she treasured each and every one of them, so glad that they had remembered why September 19th was important to her!

"So Hermione, did you get anything from your parents today?" asked Tonks after the birthday girl had heartily thanked her and Remus for their present of an enchanted quill that could take notes while you read something to it. It would certainly stop her wrists from aching all the time!

"Oh yes, actually; they got me some jewellery. Here, look." She took out a small box that had been in her pocket and opened it to show the couple a beautiful white gold diamond necklace and matching bracelet.

"Wow, Hermione! They're stunning," said Tonks while Remus nodded next to her.

"Thanks," grinned Hermione. "They got me some champagne too. I could nip upstairs and get it if you want. I couldn't possibly drink it all by myself."

Tonks blushed and avoiding the younger girl's eye. "No, Hermione it's nice of you to offer but I can't."

"What? Of course you can! I honestly don't mind."

"No, Hermione." Tonks said simply and held Remus' hand, "I _can't_"

The two witches stared at each other while Remus simply looked amused and took a sip of butterbeer.

Comprehension suddenly dawned on Hermione's face. "No…you're not…are you?" she asked excitedly.

The couple looked at each and smiled before turning back to Hermione and nodding. She let out a squeal of excitement and cried, "Congratulations!" as she embraced them both.

"How long have you known?" she asked them when she had let go.

"A couple of months," Remus said looking very happy, "We didn't want to say straight away because Dora's mother had a lot of failed pregnancies in the early months but we've been to see a Medi Wizard and she says that everything seems to be ok."

"Oh I'm so happy for you guys! Does everyone else know yet?"

"No, not yet," replied Tonks, "but I think Molly suspects I am. If anyone can spot a pregnant woman then it's her!"

"Well you can tell everyone tonight!"

"Oh, no, Hermione. This is your night- we don't want to disrupt it."

"Don't be silly Remus! When are we next going to be all together? Here, I'll get their attention for you." Hermione whipped out her wand and flicked it so that a few red sparks flew up to the ceiling. The people in the room all turned to look at her but she turned expectantly to Remus and Tonks and everyone switched their gaze to the couple too, looking slightly confused.

Hermione laughed quietly at the expectant parents' shocked expressions that she had got everyone's attention so quickly.

"Er, we, er" stammered Tonks, lost for words for once.

"We're having a baby!" Remus said in his calm voice and beamed before he was lost from Hermione's view by a stream of congratulators.

She used the time while everyone else was with the prospective parents to grab a drink and some food from the buffet. She was not unduly surprised to see Malfoy standing there on his own but she ignored him for a couple of minutes while she ate a pumpkin pasty- she was ravenous!

"Aren't you going to congratulate your cousin?" she eventually asked him after she had gulped down some butter beer. He was staring at everyone crowded around Tonks and Remus.

"It's a rather heavily Weasley-infested zone over there at the moment so I'll wait until later." She scowled at him but knew that he didn't mean it maliciously and only said it to annoy her.

"Here, Happy Birthday." He reached into his pocket and threw her a small box all the while staring at the other guests.

She caught it- nearly dropping her butter beer in the process, and opened the small velvet box. Inside was a plain silver ring.

"Oh Malfoy," Hermione gasped, "It's beautiful!"

She took the ring out of the box and slid it onto the index finger of her left hand. As soon as it was in place a yellow band appeared in middle of the ring and Hermione looked up questioningly at Malfoy. The intense stare that met her gaze made her breathing pause and her stomach flutter.

She tried to speak but found that her voice just didn't want to materialise. She cleared her throat and her cheeks began to heat up. "Er, where did the colour come from?" She tore her eyes away from Malfoy and glanced down at the ring and to her surprise saw that it was no longer yellow but red!

"It's a mood ring." Malfoy stated simply. "I read about it in one of the books in the study. Don't worry though," he added, seeing Hermione look a bit anxious, "it's not Dark magic. It just changes colour depending on what mood you're in. I don't know what colour goes with what mood because each ring is different. You're just gonna have to try and figure it out as you go."

"But where did the ring come from?" Hermione asked thrilled that Malfoy had got her such a thoughtful present.

"I asked Tonks to pick up a simple ring when she was next out shopping and then I charmed it. She only gave it to me yesterday so I was worried I was gonna have to give you a shoelace for a present instead." Hermione laughed and Malfoy indulged in a smile back at her.

"You know, I'm very surprised that you didn't warn me about my surprise party. I'd have thought you'd want to ruin all their preparations."

"I was severely tempted Granger but Potter and Weasley threatened to disembowel me if I told you so I managed to keep my mouth shut. It was worth it though, to see you moping around the house all day!"

"Hey!" Hermione slapped him playfully on the arm, "that wasn't funny- that was plain mean!"

Malfoy was about to respond but he was cut off as the lights were dimmed and Mrs. Weasley suddenly emerged with a beautiful cake. Hermione was pushed forward so that she could make her wish and blow out her eighteen candles. She had just decided that her wish was for the destruction of a particularly evil wizard when the door to the kitchen was slammed open and Professor McGonagall entered looking very uneasy.

"I'm very sorry for the intrusion Miss. Granger but I must speak with you immediately."

The tone in her voice left no room for argument so Hermione left the candles still alight and followed her former Head of house out of the kitchen and into the study.

"You may want to take a seat Miss. Granger; I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Hermione sat in one of the armchairs, her whole body tense.

"Earlier today the Ministry became aware of a disturbance in a muggle street in Cambridge."

_Cambridge._ Hermione's heart was beating so hard that she was surprised it hadn't burst out of her chest. Her hands were sweating and she felt sick.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. It was in 23 Perne Avenue- your parents are dead."

'_Your parents are dead'_

The words echoed round and round in her head and she sat numbly in her chair. Only two words managed to escape the fog in her brain. "Death Eaters?"

"Yes," McGonagall answered curtly.

Tears prickled at the corner of her eyes and she blinked rapidly to get rid of them. She looked down and noticed the bulge in her pocket. She reached into it and withdrew the box containing the jewellery from her parents.

"But I got this from them this morning." She looked up at McGonagall, the tears now pouring down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione."

Something inside of her seemed to snap and she stood quickly and walked towards the door.

"Miss. Granger where are you going?"

Hermione ignored her and walked quickly down into the hallway of Grimmauld Place towards the front door. Ron and Harry were standing there obviously waiting for her. They looked very worried but she just ignored them and walked past them too.

Harry grabbed her arm before she got too far. "Hermione? What's happe-"

But before he could finish she had wrenched her arm from his grip and turned fierce, blazing, tear filled eyes on him. Both the boys recoiled in shock. "Leave me alone." Her voice shook with suppressed emotion and they boys just stared as she opened the front door and disapparated into the night.

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Hermione reappeared two houses down from her home, not caring in the slightest about the Statute of Secrecy and instantly looked to her left. The sight of the dark mark shining above her house would be forever burned into her memory.

Feeling as though an ice cold hand had gripped her heart she walked forward in a trance. There were a number of aurors on the scene but for some reason none of them seemed to notice her. The front of her house looked exactly the same as it always did; no windows were broken, the front garden looked immaculate and her parent's cars were parked in the driveway.

Finally, as she walked up to the front door an auror noticed her and blocked her way.

"Who are you and what do you think you're doing here?" he asked. He took in her dishevelled appearance and tear stained face and comprehension dawned on his face. "Miss. Granger?"

Hermione nodded mutely at him. "I really don't think it's a good idea for you to go in."

"Do you have any legal authority to stop me?" she asked quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

The auror sighed. "No."

As soon as he acknowledged that he couldn't stop her from going inside she lit her wand, walked up to the front door and pushed it open.

Hermione trained her light over the hallway but everything seemed to be gone. All that was left were piles of ash. She walked into the kitchen but that too was just an empty room. The same was true of the dining room and her father's study. It seemed that the Death Eaters had burnt everything; their furniture, appliances, pictures. _Everything_. Her house was just a shell.

She walked into the living room and fell to her knees at the sight that lay before her. Her parent's bodies lay on the floor, their sightless eyes staring straight at her. She let out a howl of anguish and threw herself over her parent's bodies, her chest wracked with huge sobs.

She didn't know how long she lay there but she became aware of a dripping noise. Confused as to where it was coming from she reached for her wand and pointed towards the dripping sound and gasped.

Above the mantelpiece the words 'Happy Birthday Mudblood" were written in, what Hermione was pretty sure, was blood. It was running down the wall and dripping off the mantelpiece onto the bare floor. Feeling sick, she also noticed a folded piece of black card with the Dark Mark emblazoned on the front.

Knowing that she would probably regret it later, she walked unsteadily over to the

mantelpiece and opened the card.

Dear Mudblood,

Wishing you an _unforgettable_ Birthday

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It had been a week since Mr and Mrs Granger had been murdered and Draco was extremely worried about Granger. She hadn't been out of her room since her birthday and barely ate any of the food that was brought to her.

But Granger wasn't the only one who had locked themselves away- Potter had too. He believed that the death of Hermione's parents was entirely his fault and it had sent him into a whirl of depression and guilt.

Weasley was at a complete loss without his best friends and was spending more time at the Burrow as he wasn't sure what else he could do to get his friends back to normal. Various members of the Order had visited the pair of them but nothing seemed to be working. Everyone was very anxious at the moment because they all knew that they had to get Potter and Granger functioning again to have any chance of defeating the Dark Lord.

Draco was getting sick of the dark cloud that was hanging over Grimmauld Place and so, with a tray of soup and bread he marched up to Granger's room and knocked on the door.

He heard a very faint reply of "Come in," and pushed the door open. It was extremely dark inside because, despite the fact that it was half past one in the afternoon, Granger still had her curtains closed. He placed the tray down on the desk, wrenched the curtains open and turned round to the bed to look at her.

She looked terrible. Her hair was sticking up all over the place, she looked terribly thin and the huge shadows under her eyes told Draco that she had barely slept all week.

"I brought some soup up for you and I'm not leaving until you've eaten at least half of it."

Granger looked blankly up at him and Draco moved to sit next to her on the bed. "I know you want me to leave you alone," he continued, "but, to be quite honest Granger, I'm sick of you moping around up here." She looked at him surprised. "I miss not being able to tease and annoy you." Her mouth cracked into a small smile and then quickly vanished as though she thought she was not allowed to. Draco sighed in frustration.

"Granger will you just say something? I normally can't get you to shut up!"

"Malfoy, I don't want to talk about it." She croaked.

"I know you don't want to but I think you need to. It'll make you feel better. I should know; it helped when I talked to you and your mum."

At the mention of her mother Granger winced and tears formed in her eyes once more.

"I just feel so guilty," she whispered as the tears left tracks down her cheeks. "I hardly spent any time with them; nearly every holiday I was at school or with Harry and Ron. I just miss them so much!" she chocked out as the emotion took over. Instinctively Draco reached out and wrapped his arms around her.

"I would appreciate it if you stopped crying now Granger because I don't want tears all over my robes." She pulled away from him and smiled.

"You're not very good at the whole supportive friend thing Malfoy." She said, wiping away her tears.

"I'm a Slytherin!" he said, surprised that she had forgotten that particular detail. He got off the bed and brought the tray of food over to her along with some tissues.

"Now, eat."

She sighed, ripped off a bit of the bread, dunked it in her soup and ate it.

"There, happy now?"

"Not yet, but I will be when I can see the bottom of the bowl."

She scowled at him but carried on eating.

"Everyone's really worried about you."

"I'm fine," she said, slowly stirring her soup.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Have you looked in a mirror lately?" Granger glared at him but she was chewing on some bread so she couldn't answer him. "You probably look better than Potter though. Well, everyone will always look better than Potter."

"What are you talking about Harry for?"

"He's shut himself away too. He thinks it's all his fault."

Granger said nothing but stared resolutely at her soup.

"Do you blame him?" Draco asked lightly.

"No, I…I dunno. Maybe a little. I know it's not his fault; Ron and I always knew the dangers of being friends with Harry. I just thought…"

"You may have been a target even if you weren't friends with Potter." Granger looked at him, unsure if he was being serious. "A muggleborn is the smartest witch in the school? The Death Eaters wouldn't like that. Your friendship with Potter does make things worse for you but no one is safe at this moment in time." Granger nodded and pushed the bowl of soup away. She had eaten most of it so Draco was happy to let her.

"Look Granger, life is shit. There isn't a person in the world that hasn't had someone they love die. Albeit your life is shittier than most but I'm gonna say to you what you said to me. Make their deaths worth something.

"Potter and Weasley are totally falling apart without you. The Order needs you. I…need you." He said the last part very quietly but she still heard him and grabbed his hand. "You need to get back in control; the sooner you three defeat the Dark Lord the quicker we can stop other families being ruined."

Granger smiled and nodded.

Draco, sensing that it was the right thing to do, opened up his arms to let her hug him. She rested her head against his chest while he stroked her back. After a couple of minutes he heard her breathing get slower and deeper and guessed that she had fallen asleep. He carefully removed himself from her embrace and lay her down on the bed before quietly leaving.

'Right,' he thought, 'that hadn't been too hard. Now to sort out Potter.'

He walked quickly to Potter and Weasley's room, knocked on the door twice and threw it open without waiting for an answer. Potter looked up at him shocked and then glared at him.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" he muttered. Draco was right in that Potter didn't look as bad as Granger but he still looked pretty bad.

"I'm here to knock some sense into you."

Potter scoffed and looked away as though bored of his presence. "Go away Malfoy."

"No I will not, Potter. Everyone is sick and tired of you feeling guilty and sorry for yourself. Now, I've managed to sort Granger out and I see no reason why you should insist on being a hermit in here."

"You've spoken to Hermione?"

"Yeah, I spoke to her. So what?"

"Does…does she blame me?" his voice was very cautious and he looked petrified of what Draco would say next.

"A little." Draco said truthfully. "Can you blame her?"

Potter groaned and lay back on the bed.

"How can I ever look her in the face again? I'm just going to cause her pain if I stay friends with her. What can I do?"

Draco wasn't entirely certain if the last question was directed at him but he decided to answer it anyway.

"You be there for her. You've got to stop wallowing in your own self pity and be her friend. It's too late to change things now so you've just got to try and put it past you. And, although it deeply pains me to say it Potter, the wizarding world needs you to get your head together and fight back."

Potter stared at him, his mouth clenched in anger at being told what to do. Draco knew that Potter wouldn't openly admit that he was right so he would just let it play on his mind for a bit and if he didn't improve in a couple of days then he'd come back and do it again.

Draco thought it was time to let Potter stew so he walked towards the door but, before he left, he looked back and said, "If you want to be her friend, Granger's ready to talk to you."

Closing the door behind him Draco smirked widely. Merlin, Potter was easy to manipulate! But, if anyone ever found out that he had said that the wizarding world needed Harry Potter then he would have to kill them!

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Over the next couple of months more people went missing or were killed and the Death Eaters were gradually gaining control of the Wizarding life. The Order were franticly trying to fight back but the other side seemed to recruiting at a frenetic rate.

Things were not going too well for Harry, Ron and Hermione either; they had been searching all over the country for any sign of Hufflepuff's Cup but they were at a complete loss.

Life without her parents had been extremely difficult for Hermione and she felt very lonely at times simply knowing that she had to fend for herself. She knew that Molly Weasley would always be there for her but it just was not the same. Whenever she got upset she used the pain and hurt to motivate her to work harder. They had been unable to find out who had murdered her parents and she suspected that she'd never know.

They were in the first week of December now and the air outside was bitterly cold- not that Malfoy would know, however, as he still had not been allowed outside. Personally, Hermione could not understand why, but Moody and McGonagall had insisted. Although he was trying hard not to show it, she knew that he was sick to death of being locked up so she decided that it was time he deserved a treat.

She knew that the older members of the Order would go ballistic if they found out but she thought that they were being highly overprotective of Malfoy. The only people who needed to know were herself, Malfoy, Harry and Ron. Persuading the last two to help her would be slightly difficult seeing as they still hated Malfoy with a passion but they were only going to be there as a back up.

She knocked on the door to their room and let herself in when they said she could.

"Hey Hermione," they both acknowledged while they sat playing a game of wizard's chess.

"Harry, your bishop's vulnerable," she replied as she sat on the end of Ron's bed. Both boys glared at her for interfering with their game but Harry moved his bishop nonetheless.

"What have you two got planned for the rest of the day?" she asked.

"Not a lot," said Harry as Ron worked out his next move. "We were going to practice some duelling on each other. Nothing too serious," he added quickly seeing the disapproving look on her face. "I just feel a bit rusty that's all. Why?"

"I was hoping that you could do me a massive favour and be the best friends in the world."

The two wizards looked at her cautiously, unused to being talked to so nicely.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like what you're going to say?" asked Ron.

"Could we take Malfoy into Diagon Alley?" she said quickly.

"What? Are you joking?"

"No way!"

"Oh, come on. He hasn't been out of this house since June. _June!_ That's six months! He deserves to get some actual fresh air don't you think?"

"It's not up to us, you know that." said Harry, "You'd have to ask McGonagall or Moody."

"They'll just say no. Look, I know you don't really like Malfoy-"

"Understatement of the Century," muttered Ron but Hermione chose to ignore him.

"-but he really helped me out of a dark place after my birthday and I feel like I owe him this. Pleeeeeaaaaassseee!"

Harry sighed. "I think this is a really bad idea but, ok, maybe we can take him for an hour."

Ron looked appalled but Hermione jumped off the end of the bed and hugged Harry, careful not to disturb any of the chess pieces.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said beaming at him before looking at Ron.

"All right," he gave in reluctantly, "but don't expect me to be civil to him."

"Thanks Ron!"

"Whatever," he muttered glowering at the chess board.

"I'll go let him know." She said and hurried out of the room.

She found Malfoy in the study reading a book on potions. He glanced up when she entered and smiled at her. Nearly six months on from that kiss and still Hermione thought about it and found that her feelings were growing deeper, especially after how supportive he had been after her parents' deaths.

"Hi," she smiled at him, "you're not busy for the rest of the day are you?"

"Nope, not at all. Why?"

"I thought you might want to go into Diagon Alley for a little bit."

He looked at her shocked. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I just asked Harry and Ron if they could come with us because it's still not that safe out there and they said yes. We'd obviously have to disguise you and probably Harry too but I think we'd be all right with a quick shopping trip. I just thought that you needed to get out of the house after all this time."

"Yeah, wow, thanks Granger!"

"You're welcome."

They sent off half an hour later. Seeing as Malfoy and Harry had not passed their apparition tests they decided that it was best to get there on muggle transport. The Order always kept a large supply of Polyjuice Potion at headquarters and so it had been simple enough for Hermione to accio a couple of hairs from some men in the street before they left Grimmauld Place.

Malfoy was now a dark haired, slightly balding man in his mid thirties with a lean body and a lot of nose hair while Harry was an auburn haired, overweight man only a couple of years older than them.

Ron, of course, found their transformations hilarious but Hermione soon got him to shut up when she threatened to permanently colour his hair green and silver.

When the issue of money was raised, Hermione realised that there was a flaw in her day trip. How was Malfoy supposed to get any of his money out of the Malfoy vault while in disguise and without a key?

When she voiced this question to Malfoy he seemed completely at ease. "The Gringotts Goblins hold onto the key at all times. Only those with Malfoy blood in their veins are able to touch it and to get it you have to give them a password."

"How did your mother get money from the vault then? I mean, I know that the pureblood families are all inter-related but surely she didn't have enough Malfoy blood to be able to hold the key?"

"She wasn't allowed to get money directly out of the vault. It's some stupid pureblood tradition."

"Oh," Hermione wrinkled her forehead in confusion, "how weird."

The shoppers in Diagon Alley hurried between destinations with their heads bent low so as to avoid trouble. There was an air of fear amongst the shops and it made Hermione shiver and put her on full alert.

On their way to Gringotts Harry and Ron got completely distracted by a new book on Quidditch moves that was being displayed in Quality Quidditch Supplies. Hermione tried to get them to move away from the shop but they refused point blank.

"You don't need me and Ron to go in with you to Gringotts with you, Hermione. It shouldn't take you that long and you'll be perfectly safe with the Goblins." Harry said, his eyes not leaving the glossy pages of the book as they turned themselves in the display.

"Fine, but just keep a look out for anything suspicious." Hermione said, annoyed that they were splitting up into two groups.

She stalked the rest of the way up to Gringotts, Malfoy walking quickly to keep up with her. "Right," she said, "how are we going to do this? I mean, you don't look anything like a Malfoy so they're not going to be too pleased when you ask to see your vault."

"There's one Goblin who deals with the high security pureblood vaults, he's called Waldegrak. I'll just have to see how it goes."

She followed Malfoy through the huge doors and along the lines of Goblins to stop beside a particularly ancient looking one.

"How can I help you sir?" Waldegrak asked in a wheezy voice.

"I wish to withdraw money from my account," Malfoy said and then added in a whisper, "I am currently under the disguise of Polyjuice Potion because I do not wish people to be alerted of my presence."

"Yes, well then. May I have your password sir?" Waldegrak asked a bit flustered.

"Purus cruor mos victum totus," Malfoy said in a bitter voice. Waldegrak dropped his quill in surprise and bent underneath his desk to pick it up.

"The Malfoy account!" he said staring wide-eyed at the man opposite him. "Certainly sir, I shall go fetch your key." Waldegrak cautiously got off his chair and tottered off into a back room.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Hermione asked nervously peering over her shoulder to where the Goblin had disappeared to.

"I'm not entirely sure but Bill said the Goblins haven't sided with the Dark Lord yet so I think we should be ok."

Hermione bit her lip and glanced all around the building to check that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "I wish Harry and Ron were here. I feel too exposed with just the two of us."

"We don't need Potter and Weasley," scoffed Malfoy.

"Your key, sir," Waldegrak had returned to his desk and was holding a small, red velvet box.

"Thank you," Malfoy said and opened the box to withdraw the key. Just as his fingers made contact with the tiny gold key the doors of Gringotts were thrown open and ten dark robed Death Eaters entered the bank.

Instinctively, Hermione and Malfoy threw themselves over one of the Goblin's desks while all the Goblins scattered. The other witches and wizards cowered where they stood, struck numb by fear.

Hermione and Malfoy gazed at each other fearfully unsure whether the Death Eaters knew of their presence. If they were discovered then they would surely both be killed.

"Waldegrak," the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange called, "what is the emergency?"

The Goblin looked absolutely petrified and merely pointed at the desk behind which Malfoy and Hermione were hiding. Frozen by fear the two of them had not moved a muscle before their cover was blasted into a million pieces.

Hermione scrambled to get up to her feet and she and Malfoy stood with their wands pointed at the Death Eaters.

"Mudblood!" Bellatrix cried, "I can not tell you how pleased I am to see you! Your parents send their regards."

A white hot fury erupted inside of her and it was only Malfoy's restraining arm that stopped her from launching herself at Bellatrix. "You murdering bitch! I'll kill you!" she screamed and struggled against Malfoy's hold.

Bellatrix laughed as did the other Death Eaters.

"Did you like the decorations Mudblood? Isn't it nice that the Dark Lord thought of you on your birthday? I can still see your filthy parents writhing on the floor screaming and begging for death."

"Stop it," screeched Hermione, "I'll kill you, you murdering whore!"

"Oh no Mudblood. I wasn't the one who killed them." Bellatrix turned to look at a Death Eater who had just walked through the doors of Gringotts.

The new arrival walked slowly up to the two of them and she felt Malfoy stiffen next to her.

"She's right Mudblood," drawled a horribly recognisable voice. The Death Eater took off their mask and Hermione saw the familiar blond hair, the smirk and the cruel grey eyes of Lucius Malfoy.

"It was me."

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A/N So now do you see why it had to be such a long chapter? I wanted you all to know that it was Lucius who killed her parents before the next chapter. I only came up with that bit before I wrote this one otherwise I would've made Chapter 4 longer.

The reason that it's so late is because I really struggled with the first few pages of this chapter and to be honest I don't really like them. Once I got past there though it was quite easy. Also, being at Uni is quite disruptive and I don't have that much time to write. You should get the next chapter around Christmas time cos I get three weeks holiday then.

I think I've said everything I wanted too…

So, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic


	7. An Impossible Situation

A/N: Hello everyone! I am massively sorry for the long wait and I'm afraid that I don't really have an excuse for the lateness of this chapter.

Lots of love to Hermione09Weasley, lovin.black, nellz21, .Smart.Ass.Punk., SweetAnnabella and MHxxPAPER DOLL for their reviews.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world

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Chapter 7- An Impossible Situation

Hermione had an incredibly strong feeling of Déjà vu as she felt herself beginning to regain consciousness on the floor once again. Her head was still aching but someone had placed something cool and wet on her forehead. She was also vaguely aware of someone holding her hand and rubbing the back of her palm with their thumb. Her eyes still closed as she let their soothing motions continue, she furrowed her brows as she tried to remember what had caused her to pass out this time.

A mental image of a blond wizard walking through the door of Mr. Cook's office brought it straight back to her. She suddenly realised who was holding her hand and wrenched it out of his grasp as she sat up and stared aghast at Draco Malfoy as he crouched next to her.

"You've really got to stop passing out when you come into my presence, Granger," he said as he stood up and held out a hand to pull her up. "You'll give me a big head!"

Under normal circumstances she would've replied that his head was already quite big enough but her mind was piecing together what Draco Malfoy being in that room meant and she did not like the picture that was forming.

"Ah, good, Granger, you're awake," Mr. Cook said as he re-entered his office with a glass of water for her. She took Malfoy's proffered hand and stood shakily on her legs, staring hard at Mr. Cook.

"You want _me_, to get _Lucius Malfoy_ out of Azkaban?" she asked slowly and incredulously.

Malfoy, whose face had been relaxed, suddenly went tense and looked between Hermione and Mr. Cook in shock.

"I realise that it's a difficult situation for you-"

_"-Difficult situation!"_Hermione cried in near hysteria, "Lucius Malfoy murdered my parents!"

"You never told me Granger would be working on the case," Malfoy said to Mr. Cook, "I didn't even know she worked in this department!"

"You said you wanted the best and that's what you've got." He replied.

"No, I don't want her working on it. It's not fair- I saw what she went through."

"Mr. Malfoy, if you don't want your father to die in Azkaban then I think you should let Granger take the case."

Hermione watched her boss through narrowed eyes. He seemed to be under the impression that she would actually act as Lucius Malfoy's defence. Not only had he murdered her parents, he was probably the most famous and reviled of all of Voldemort's Death Eaters. Plus, it also meant that she'd have to spend more time with Draco and that was something that she certainly did not want to do.

"Sir, could I talk to you alone please?" she asked in a reasonably calm voice.

Malfoy looked at her, unsure of her motives but left the office without another word.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but there is absolutely no way that I can accept this case."

Mr. Cook sighed and sat in his chair behind his desk.

"I know about your personal history with Lucius Malfoy but I'm sure you know the Ministry Policy on refusals to accept law cases."

Hermione stared at him absolutely outraged.

"You'd fire me for not representing the man who murdered my parents?!"

"I didn't make up the rules, Granger."

"Well somebody should change them then!" She knew that she was loosing her cool but she didn't care; Mr. Cook was being totally unreasonable. Sometimes she hated that the Wizarding world was so stuck in the past on some issues. If she'd been a muggle lawyer there was no way that she'd loose her job because she refused to defend the murderer of her parents.

"You and I both know that this is one of the most difficult cases that's been brought before this office in its entire history! I know that the murder of your parents will make this extremely painful for you but I honestly believe that you're the only one who can pull this off. You might not like me saying this but your history with this defendant probably helps his case- the fact that you spent so many years fighting against him and now are going to defend him makes it look like you've forgiven him. The Wizengamot will like that."

"Stuff the Wizengamot!"

"Some of the senior members of the Ministry are highly keen for you to take on this case."

"What? Why?"

"It paints a good image of wizarding unity- a muggleborn representing a well known pureblood. They want people to believe that we all co-exist happily again."

"Did the Minister himself say he wanted me to take the case?"

"Well, not the Minister in person but some of his staff have contacted me. Look, Granger, I don't want to loose you- you're the best I've ever had. Just, take the day to think about it, all right?"

Hermione recognised that she was dismissed and she tried very hard not to slam the door on the way out. Malfoy was standing in the corridor and he looked expectantly at her but she completely ignored him and walked towards the Auror department.

What in Merlin's name was she supposed to do? She couldn't afford to loose her job; she had three children to take care of after all. Plus, she actually liked her job- up until this point anyway. But could she actually stand up in front of the Wizengamot and try to get Lucius Malfoy released? Furthermore, did she actually want him out of Azkaban? The honest answer was no, yet this wasn't the first time that she hadn't completely agreed with what she was arguing for. This, however, was on a completely new level. She needed to talk to a few people to get her head straight.

She located Harry's cubicle and poked her head through the door. He was reading a sheaf of parchment but looked up when she knocked on the wall of his cubicle. He looked up at her and smiled.

"Hey, Hermione. What d'you want?"

"I need to talk to you and Ron urgently."

"Ok," said Harry looking slightly worried, "I'll just call him." He leaned over one side of his cubicle and threw a scrunched up piece of parchment into the adjoining office.

"Hey!" said Ron's voice.

"Hermione wants to talk to us."

She rolled her eyes at their childish behaviour and Ron appeared a few seconds later and all three of them sat down.

"I found out why Malfoy's back in town."

"To get his hair bleached?" quipped Ron and he started to laugh but stopped when he caught Hermione's stern look.

"He's trying to get his father released from Azkaban."

"WHAT?" both boys yelled looking absolutely stunned.

"Is he _insane?" _asked Ron.

"I thought he hated his father?" mused Harry.

"Yeah, me too," sighed Hermione. She knew that they were going to take this next bit really badly. "But there's more; Mr. Cook has assigned me the case and he says that he'll have to fire me if I don't take it on."

"Quit your job," said Harry simply, while Ron looked unable to put his thoughts into words.

"But, Harry, I love my job."

"Enough to compromise your beliefs?"

He had caught her there. Her principles were one of the most important aspects of her life and she would hate to betray them for her pride.

"He's dying, Draco just wants him to die in Malfoy Manor that's all. It's not like I'd be setting him loose on the Wizarding world. I don't want to take on this case, believe me…"

"You could have a job in any department with your qualificati-"

"I don't want another job!" she moaned.

"Hermione…"

"No, Harry. You and Ron both have your dream jobs too. What if I told you, you have to find a new job? Nothing would compare to being an auror for you!"

"I understand that you love your job but you can't take on this case! It's the principle of it! Do you think Malfoy cared about where any of his victims wanted to die? Did they get a choice? Did he let your parents die with any dignity?"

Hermione gasped at his callousness but Harry continued.

"What would your parents say?"

"Don't." She warned, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. "Don't you dare talk like I don't care about their memories."

"I'm sorry," Harry admitted, "but I just completely disagree with you doing this case."

"Believe me, nobody hates Lucius Malfoy more than I do, but I can't see a way that I can get out of this! If there was any way, without me loosing my job of course, then I would do it."

"Maybe you could set up your own independent office, outside of the Ministry?" asked Ron. It was the first thing that he had said since she'd revealed that she was being forced to take on the case. To say that Hermione was amazed that he had come out with a highly intelligent and calm comment was a huge understatement.

"Er, is that allowed?" asked Harry, also shocked at Ron's suggestion.

"I dunno," he replied.

Hermione considered his suggestion and it was a highly appealing one. She'd gathered quite a reputation in the wizarding world as a successful Magical Law worker. If she did open an independent office she was likely to get a few clients. But she did not know if the Wizengamot would recognise her as a legal representative if she wasn't working under the Ministry.

"You could always ask Kingsley about it," pointed out Harry.

Something clicked in her brain.

"I could ask Kingsley to overturn that 'rejecting a case' rule! He is the Minister for Magic after all!" She couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of Kingsley before. He was on the Order too and surely would not want Malfoy released from Azkaban.

"Of course! Kingsley will spare you, I'm sure." Harry said, relieved that he didn't have to argue with her anymore.

"I'm very impressed that you managed to keep calm, Ron!" Hermione said as she smiled at him.

"Well, I had to take a couple of anger management sessions to improve my ability to keep compsed."

"Why did they make you take them?" asked Hermione suspiciously.

"I, er, accidentally blew a hole in my cubicle wall when I was arguing with Reggie Baines over some raiders that robbed some muggles."

Hermione frowned. "Ron! You've only been a qualified Auror for a few months- you shouldn't be arguing with your superiors! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd get all critical about it!"

"Humph! Well, the lessons seem to have done you good in any case." Ron rolled his eyes. "Right, well, I'm going to go see Kingsley and hopefully this'll all be sorted out before lunchtime!"

As she stepped out of the lift to go to the Minister's office she saw Ginny waiting to get inside it, holding two expensive looking broomsticks.

"Hi, Hermione, how are you feeling today?" asked Ginny.

"Well, my head is still aching a bit but I've got slightly more worrisome problems at the moment."

She quickly filled Ginny in on what Mr. Cook had asked her to do.

"That's completely unreasonable of him!" said Ginny looking slightly worried about the situation Hermione found herself in. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to see Kingsley- hopefully he'll be able to get me out of it. Otherwise I'll probably have to take it on. And if I do it'll mean that I'll have to spend more time with Draco."

"Oh my God!" breathed Ginny, "I completely forgot about that! No wonder you really don't want to take on this case; if he found out about…well, he won't be best pleased!" Ginny finished dryly.

"Tell me about it," Hermione sighed. "Anyway, I'd better go ask Kingsley about this stupid rule. I'll let you know how it goes."

"Good luck!" Ginny called as Hermione went down the corridor.

She approached the Minister's secretary and cleared her throat to get her attention.

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger. I was just wondering if there's any chance that I could see the Minister for a quick word?"

"Let me just see if he's free," the witch said as she rose quickly to knock on the Minister's door. Hermione heard a low voice reply and the secretary popped her head round for a few seconds before withdrawing it and stating that Hermione could go in.

She went through the door that the other witch held open for her and into the Minister for Magic's office. It was beautifully decorated with ornate furniture and Kingsley himself was sat behind a handsome mahogany desk.

"Hermione," Shaklebolt said as he rose to shake her hand, "I had a feeling you'd be coming to see me today."

Hermione tried to hide her shock as she shook the Minister's hand. "So you know what this is in reference to?"

"You want to get out of the Malfoy case?" Hermione nodded. "Well, I can hardly say I'm surprised. I don't particularly want that man out of Azkaban either."

"Mr. Cook informed me that I would be fired if I refuse to take on the case but, well, couldn't I please sit this one out on personal grounds? You do realise that it's illegal for a barrister in the United Kingdom to loose their job because they've refused to take on a case."

"You and I both know that law only applies in the muggle world, Hermione."

"But our rule is ridiculously old fashioned and doesn't take into account our human rights!"

"I'm not saying that this rule isn't stupid. It might please you to know that it has now been placed under review but I'm afraid that you're still going to have to take on the case."

"But you just said-"

"I said it was being reviewed. I can't change the rules at the drop of a wand, it doesn't work like that."

Hermione sighed.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but there's really nothing I can do about it. If it makes you feel any better I've told Cook to give you a raise and a week off after the case is finished- whether you win it or not." Hermione made a non-committal noise and accepted the cup of tea that he offered her whilst sitting down in a chair opposite his desk.

She suddenly remembered Ron's earlier suggestion about opening an independent office but when she asked Kingsley about it he just shook his head.

"The Wizengamot wouldn't recognise you. You could always submit your request to them- there's a good chance that they'd let you because they seem to like you. It's not a risk worth quitting your job over but it's something worth looking into- not that I particularly want to lose you as a Ministry employee."

Hermione smiled at him and drank some more of her tea while internally she admitted defeat and faced up to the fact that she was going to have to defend Lucius Malfoy.

"So, any idea what your main argument is going to be?" the Minister queried, genuinely interested in how she was possibly going to win this case.

"No idea," she admitted and sipped some tea. "You do realise that Molly's going to be all over you about this, don't you?"

Kingsley chuckled deeply. "Yes, I suppose so."

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As she made her way back to her boss' office she thought over her issues with this case. It wasn't as though she was saving Lucius' life; he was going to die whether she won the case or not. But she still felt sick at the thought of trying to defend his actions to the rest of the wizarding world.

She reached under her robes, pulled out a gold locket and opened it. There were two photos inside- one of her parents and one of her kids. Taking on this case could impact on her entire family. She could be insulting the memory of her parents by trying to release the man who killed them and the father of her children could find out about their existence. The next few days were going to be difficult; there was no doubt about that. But, as long as she maintained professional limits then there was no reason why Draco would find out about the triplets.

She stared at the image of her parents. Would they want her to do this? Or, did they wish for their killer to rot in Azkaban? Hermione shut her eyes and sighed deeply. She hoped they would be proud of her.

She knocked on Mr. Cook's door and entered when he gave her permission. He looked up but didn't say anything.

"I'll do it," she said, one hand still clutching her locket.

Mr. Cook sighed in relief and wrote a couple of quick inter-department memos and sent them off on their destinations. "One of those was to Draco Malfoy so he should be back soon to discuss this case with you. As Lucius is terminally ill the case is slightly sooner than most and has been set for Monday, which gives you 5 days including today to get your act together.

She'd figured she'd have little time but it didn't make her any happier about it.

"The meeting with Lucius has been set for 10 o'clock tomorrow morning in the cell of the main courtroom. Is that ok, Granger?"

"I suppose so," she mumbled with very little enthusiasm. That was the bit she was least looking forward to- coming face to face with Lucius Malfoy. It was necessary for her to do so but she was absolutely dreading it. What did one say to the murderer of their parents?

They talked over a few other details of the case until Malfoy entered the office a few minutes later.

"Miss. Granger has agreed to take on your case Mr. Malfoy." Informed Mr. Cook as Draco took a seat.

Malfoy looked over at Hermione in shock. "You're sure you want to do this?" he asked.

"I don't really have any choice," Hermione tried to smile at him but her facial features just didn't seem to be working at that moment.

"I honestly had no idea that you worked in this office, Granger. I would never have asked you to take it on-"

"It's ok, Malfoy. I know it's not your fault."

"Right, you two have got a lot to discuss. I suggest you take Mr. Malfoy to your office to talk things over." Mr. Cook said, effectively dismissing them from his office.

Hermione and Malfoy both exited the room and she led the way down the corridor to her office. Just as she was about to touch the door handle she suddenly remembered that the walls of her office were covered in paintings by the kids and she had numerous photos of them on her desk. She couldn't possibly take him in there!

She stopped dead and quickly turned around to look at Malfoy who raised an eyebrow at her strange behaviour.

"Erm, you know what? I'm starving and in need of a drink. Shall we discuss this over lunch instead?" She babbled this all very quickly and it took Malfoy a few seconds to understand what she had said.

"Errrrr, ok. I suppose you can't really travel anywhere with that bump on your head though. Shall we just eat in the atrium?"

Hermione conjured up a fake smile and said, "That sounds great. Let me just get a few sheets of parchment to write notes on. I'll be back in a second."

She quickly slipped through the door so that Malfoy couldn't see inside and slammed it shut. She rested her head against the door and breathed deeply. That was _close._ How could she be so stupid?

She hurried to her desk, grabbed some parchment, ink and a quill then quickly got out of the office. Malfoy looked at her with a bemused expression on his face but didn't comment.

"Shall we go then?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

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"Go on, ask me. I know you're dying to." Draco almost laughed at her offended expression as he took a sip of his butterbeer.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she protested, pushing her salad around with a fork.

"You want to know why I'm trying to get him released."

"Well, I can't say that it hasn't crossed my mind. I mean, I thought you hated him. After Gringotts you said-"

"I know what I said. And I do still hate him, believe me. I can't really explain it to be honest. I don't really know why I'm doing it." Granger looked slightly disappointed in his answer and he was aware that it wasn't a particularly good one but what he'd said was true; he really wasn't sure why he was doing this.

"But after everything he's done, everyone he's killed! How can you justify giving him a comfortable death? Think what he put you through!"

Draco sighed.

"I just…After everything that happened in the war, I still can't get over it. I think about what happened all the time and it just…uh, it makes me so angry, especially when I think of my father. I need some closure. Everything was left so open when I went and I don't think I've ever really given myself a chance to get to grips with what happened."

"But setting him free? It seems way too good for him. Isn't there something else that you could do to ease your mind?"

Draco laughed.

"What? Kill him? He's dying anyway and I don't think that it'd make me feel much better. I'm not sure I'd even be able to do it- he is my father after all."

"But he tried to kill you!"

"Family is family, Granger. You can't change who you are. But that doesn't mean that I'm like Lucius. I don't think I could ever hurt my own flesh and blood. In some ways he cares more about family then I do; only the family name and the so called pride that goes with it. The name Malfoy means nothing to me anymore."

"Why don't you change it then?"

Draco screwed up his nose. "Draco Black? It just doesn't have the same ring to it."

Granger rolled her eyes. "So you think that letting Lucius die in his nice, comfy bed will give you closure?"

"I don't know. Hopefully. His dying gives me the opportunity to be the better person. I'm holding the moral high ground and maybe that'll let me live the rest of my life in peace."

Granger studied him for a few seconds, her face emotionless.

"I don't agree with what you want- I would be perfectly happy if I never heard the name Lucius Malfoy ever again. But, he's not my father and I appreciate that it's your choice."

"Thank you. And I meant what I said earlier; I would never have asked you to do this in a million years. I'm sorry that you've been forced into this."

She gave him a small smile. "It's ok; it's not your fault. Kingsley's promised me that the rejection rule is being overlooked and I'm being given a raise and a week's holiday."

Draco laughed while Granger looked at him offended. "What?" she asked.

"As if you're actually going to take a whole week off for a holiday. You won't know what to do with yourself. I reckon you won't last three days!"

"And what makes you think you know me so well? I haven't seen you in nearly four years! I might be a completely different person to the Hermione Granger you knew then."

They stared at each other, both reminiscing of what things used to be like between them. Before she broke his heart…He looked away quickly and cleared his throat.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe you are different."

They talked over a couple more details of the case before the subject of the meeting with Lucius came up.

"Do I need to be there?" Draco asked.

"No, no, it isn't necessary at all-"

"Would you like me to be there?" Her eyes looked up at him in shock and, he thought, a little bit of gratefulness. He knew that she had to be absolutely dreading this meeting with Lucius and he guessed she'd need a bit of moral support. He doubted Potter or Weasley would be able to keep their cool if they accompanied her.

"If you wouldn't mind," she said in a small voice, "I'd really appreciate that."

"It's no trouble at all. I'm the one who's putting you through this- the least I could do is give you a bit of support."

"Thanks," she smiled at him and Draco reached out and squeezed her hand.

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"You're in trouble!" Ron said in an annoying sing-song voice when he returned with Elysia in his arms through the fire place. "Mum is going absolutely mental about this Malfoy case. She's coming over in a few minutes to talk to you about it."

Hermione groaned as she hugged her daughter and Harry arrived with Cato.

"Did you have to tell her, Ron? I would've preferred to do it myself when I can actually travel magically again. You did tell her that I have no choice but to take it, didn't you?"

"We tried to explain it to her but she just wouldn't listen." Ron explained whilst taking a seat on the couch. "What's for tea by the way?"

"Eugh, Ron you're unbelievable!" exclaimed Ginny as she brought up the rear with Seren. "You've only just got here, Hermione's about to take on the biggest case of her career and you're asking her what's for dinner! Why don't you cook it for once?"

"I don't mind doing it. It might give me a chance to avoid talking to Molly too much." Reasoned Hermione as she moved into the kitchen.

Ginny rolled her eyes at Ron but followed Hermione out of the room. "Mum said she'd be along in about ten minutes."

"Great," Hermione muttered, "just what I need."

"She only means well," said Harry. "She's worried about you."

"I know, I know," she sighed. "I just wish that I could have explained it to her first. I bet Ron was really tactless about it."

Harry lips twitched. "It's safe to say he could have worded it slightly better, but you must have known that Molly was going to be all mother-y about this."

"Yeah, I've already warned Kingsley, don't worry." The other two laughed. "What are the kids doing?"

"I think they're going to play hide and seek with Ron."

"Fine, just make sure Ron doesn't cast Homenum revelio if he can't find someone this time. I don't want the kids learning how to use magic to cheat."

A few seconds later they heard Ron counting in a loud voice and Elysia came scurrying into the kitchen.

"Harry? Will you shrink me, please?" she asked smiling excitedly up at him.

"Absolutely not!" Hermione answered for him as she fished around for some onions.

"Sorry, Lissy. Mum says no."

The little called looked crestfallen. "Please?" she begged.

Making sure that Hermione wasn't looking he tapped the little girl on the head with his wand and she shivered as a disillusionment charm trickled over her.

"That'll have to do." He whispered to her as she squeaked with excitement and he bent down so she could give him a kiss on the nose before scampering off to hide.

Hermione had just started to brown the meat when two loud 'whooshes' announced the arrivals of Molly and Arthur.

"I'm in here," Hermione called, bracing herself for the onslaught that was bound to come.

Molly came bustling into the room but paused when she caught sight of Hermione.

"Oh, Hermione dear," she cried throwing her arms out and rushing towards the young woman to embrace her. Hermione let Molly hug her and patted her on the back.

"How are you holding up?" asked Arthur as he, too, entered the room.

"Oh, you know," Hermione said, extricating herself from Molly's grip, "I'm fine. I've sort of accepted it now."

"Is there not a single department you could see yourself working in instead?" Hermione shook her head. "Oh but this case is so absurd to begin with. Why would Draco possibly want his father released? After everything that evil man has done? I really can't see the Wizengamot siding with you on this one Hermione. I can't see a single reason why they would let Lucius Malfoy of all people die with a semblance of respect."

"I'm just going to be doing my job, Molly. Draco's motives are his own business and I really don't care either way what happens to Lucius."

"Yeah right! Are you seriously telling me that you wouldn't care if he got to die in Malfoy manor?" asked Ginny disbelievingly.

Hermione chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Ok, so maybe I care a little bit but I'm being paid to provide a service. I've got to try and be professional."

"Screw trying to be professional! Er- sorry, Mum" said Ginny, looking at Molly a bit guiltily. "But this man murdered your parents!"

"Look, you're telling me stuff that I already know. If I actually had a choice in this matter then I wouldn't even look at this case twice."

"Oh, I just can not believe that your superior asked you to do this case. It's just ridiculously insensitive of him."

"Well, her boss wants a win doesn't he?" said Arthur. "He knew that no one else would be able to give it to him. Even though it's unbelievably cruel of him, he's just doing his job."

"Are you defending him?" asked Molly outraged.

"No, of course not!" back pedalled Arthur. "I can just sort of understand why he put Hermione in this situation."

Molly continued to glare at Arthur before taking out her wand and moving towards the stove. She noticed the meat in the pan and the spaghetti waiting to be boiled. "Spaghetti Bolognaise?" she asked Hermione.

The younger witch just nodded and before Hermione could do anything else Molly gave a few flicks of her wand and started preparing their tea. Hermione wasn't sure whether she was grateful or annoyed with Molly taking over their dinner but knew better that to try and stop the Weasley matriarch from cooking.

Ron entered the room and looked around it frowning. "Have any of you seen the triplets? They have gotten _really _good at hiding!"

Hermione looked at Harry and Ginny suspiciously but they both adopted innocent faces.

"Check for _disillusioned_ triplets," said Hermione dryly.

"What? Oh, thanks a lot guys!" Ron moaned, glaring at his sister and his best friend. "This is going to take me forever." He moved towards the counter to grab a couple of tomato pieces and practically inhaled them. "Did you tell Mum about your meeting tomorrow?" His hand reached towards the vegetables again but one of the knives brandished him away. Meanwhile Hermione glared daggers at him and Molly looked confused.

"What meeting?" she asked. "Who with?"

"Er, I'd better keep on looking for the kids," said Ron as he made a quick get away.

"I have to meet with Lucius Malfoy tomorrow morning. It's standard procedure," Hermione finished quickly.

"Meet with Lucius Malfoy? Oh, Hermione are you crazy? That man will leap off his death bed and try and strangle you!" Molly started wringing her hands and looking very upset. "You should not go see that terrible man whether it's expected or not. It's bad enough that you have to defend him!"

"Molly, I need to ask Lucius some questions about the case-"

"Well, get someone else to ask them for you! Surely there's not some rule against that!" Molly looked rather flustered and was pacing up and down.

"I'm not going to let Lucius Malfoy think that I'm too scared to look in his face, Molly."

"Arthur, you'll have to go with her!" Her voice increasing in pitch and volume.

"Molly, I do not need Arthur to be my chaperone!"

"Why are Mummy and Nana fighting?" asked Seren as she came into the kitchen after being discovered from her hiding place.

"Oh, I'm not fighting with your Nana, sweetie. Molly's just trying to look after me that's all. Nothing to worry about." Hermione soothed as she picked up the little girl.

"Ok," Seren smiled, "Are Nana and Pops staying for dinner?"

Hermione looked at Molly and Arthur, wordlessly asking them if they wanted to.

"Of course we are, Pumpkin," said Arthur as he took the young girl out of her mother's arms. "Do you think Ron needs a hand finding your brother and sister?"

Seren nodded and the two of them left the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, dear but I just don't think you should meet this man on your own." Molly said tenderly, laying a hand on Hermione's arm.

"I'm not going to be on my own. Draco is going to come with me. He's the one who's actually brought this case forward so it makes sense for him to be there too."

"If you're sure, dear." Molly said uncertainly.

"I'll be ok. I promise."

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Hermione sat on the sofa with a glass of wine and some soppy muggle romance on the television. It wasn't often that she indulged in alcohol but tonight she thought she deserved a bit of a boost. It was also very rare that she was allowed to choose what she wanted to watch on the television but Harry had had the sense to suggest that he and Ron go out to the Leaky Cauldron for a couple of drinks and give Hermione some 'me' time.

This had been such a rubbish day. She'd thought yesterday had been bad enough but today was just ridiculous.

The doorbell rang and Hermione only just managed to drag herself away from the comfy couch and through to the front door. She opened it to reveal Remus and Tonks cowering from the rain over head.

"You heard then?" Hermione said as she stepped aside to let them through.

"Kingsley owled us; he thought you could use some rational people to talk to." Tonks said grinning while Hermione tried not to laugh.

"Was the envelope addressed to you both or just to Remus?" Hermione joked and Tonks pretended to look offended but dropped it and just grinned again.

"Fancy a glass of wine?" Hermione offered as they all went into the living room.

"No, thanks," Remus replied while Tonks just shook her head.

"So, what do you want me to say?" asked Hermione.

"The truth about how you feel about this." Said Remus, looking seriously at her. "I'm sure you've played everything down for Molly, Harry, Ron and probably even Ginny. We want to hear the truth. It probably helps you've had a bit of wine- that'll loosen your tongue a little. So, come on; upon up."

Hermione sighed, but not in annoyance or anger. Her relationship with the couple was unlike any she had with her other friends. Molly and Arthur were sort of parent figures, while Harry, Ron and Ginny were like younger siblings. Tonks and Remus felt like her _older_ siblings and that felt extremely different. Maybe it was because they were both young parents too, she wasn't sure, but she felt a close bond with them and always felt that she could turn to them for advice.

"I really, really don't want to do this." She said, her eyes filling up with tears. "I don't want to speak to him, I don't even want to look at him- let alone defend him. He's an evil twisted murderer. I'm worried about what my parents would think about this; I just don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive myself for sticking up for him. And I don't have a clue what I'm going to say that could possibly make this appear like an acceptable case in front of the wizengamot. None of them will want to vote in favour of this hearing in case it looks like they are in support of Lucius Malfoy. Not that I want him released, anyway. I dunno, I think I'm just really confused about the case." She took a deep breath after all her talking and found that she felt slightly better for getting that all of her chest.

"I hope you don't think I'm crazy now," she said, looking slightly worriedly at Remus and Tonks.

"Oh, Hermione, don't be silly. Of course we don't think you're crazy!" soothed Tonks as she moved over to give Hermione a hug.

"You've been put in an extremely awkward and strenuous position," agreed Remus, "anybody would crack under the pressure. You're coping absolutely admirably."

"And I don't think you've got anything to worry about as far as your parents are concerned," he continued as Tonks held her hand. "I think they'd be really proud of you for being able to show the courtesy to their murderer that he couldn't show to them."

"They really wouldn't want me to quit my job in protest of being forced to defend their killer?" she asked hopefully.

"I don't think so. They'd know how much you love your job and not want you to give it up for them. The wizarding public might be a bit dubious about your motives at first but I think they'll see that you had no choice but to take on this case. Plus, it'll show that you're a million times a better person than Lucius. I think you'll come out of this all right. It'll be tough, but, so are you." Her former professor smiled at her and gave her a hug too.

"Just keep your guard up tomorrow. He'd love to tear you to pieces." Warned the violet haired Tonks. "Be prepared for every insult that he can throw at you. He'll mention your parents; there's no point pretending otherwise because he'll want to see you suffer. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, it's all right. Draco said he would."

The Lupins exchanged significant looks and Tonks shifted uncomfortably. "Are you sure that the Lucius thing is the only problem you have with this case?" She asked slowly staring at her intently.

Hermione's stomach suddenly felt full of wriggly worms. Surely not…

"I, I don't know what you mean," she stammered.

"It's Draco, isn't it?" asked Tonks. "He's the father."

Hermione gasped, pulling her hands out of Tonks' grasp and covering her face with them. Tears trickled between her fingers and Remus looked worriedly at Tonks over the situation they had created. They had only just made her feel better!

"How did you know?" Hermione asked when the initial shock had subsided.

"I'm not blind," said Tonks gently. "For months I'd seen you and Draco shooting those looks at each other in Grimmauld Place. When you first told us you were pregnant I assumed that it was him but, when you said it was just some muggle I wasn't so sure. The fact that you were carrying triplets was a bit of a point to Draco too. Plus, Seren looks more and more like a Malfoy every day."

"Oh God," breathed Hermione, "does everyone know? Have I been totally stupid to think that no one would realise?"

"I think we're the only ones," said Remus. "Harry and Ron would never think it even slightly possibly that you fell in love with a Malfoy and the rest of the Weasleys probably just believed you when you said it was that muggle. You're not known for being much of a liar."

"Did you work it out too?" Hermione asked him.

"Well I didn't give the paternity a great deal of thought, but the most logical person was Draco- particularly when he disappeared a couple of weeks before you told us all you were pregnant."

"He didn't abandon you, did he?" asked Tonks seriously.

"No. He doesn't know," Hermione whispered and then burst into tears again. Tonks reached out and held her for a few seconds making shushing noises.

"But why didn't you tell him?" She asked once Hermione had calmed down a bit. "Are you ashamed that he's the father?"

"No, I…, I was _so_ scared. I didn't know what I wanted. I thought I was doing him a favour- he wasn't even eighteen! He didn't want to be a father. He didn't want to be stuck with a kid for the rest of his life." Something inside her had become steelier and Remus and Tonks knew that she was building up her wall of defences. She had managed to convince herself that these things were true when she had felt totally alone and desperate.

"But how could you know what he wanted?" queried Tonks. "Oh, Hermione I wish you'd come to us when you first found out about this."

"I thought you'd all be ashamed of me."

"Hermione, why would we be ashamed of what you did with Draco? You think we would have turned our backs on you because you had sex with someone you loved? We may not have totally approved, but we know the threat of war does funny things to people. Look at us," said Remus as he looked at his wife. "If there hadn't been a war we probably wouldn't have got married and had a child so quickly. But I don't regret it."

Hermione gave him a small smile and Tonks squeezed her hand before saying, "I think you have to tell him, Hermione."

The young witch started crying silently again. "Do I have to?" she whispered.

"He has a right to know," Remus said softly.

"You don't have to do it straight away, wait until after the trial. The longer you leave it, the harder it will be. It's not going to be easy for you but it's not fair to Draco."

"I don't think I can do it." Hermione murmured looking absolutely petrified.

"Yes, you can," said Tonks firmly. "I'll be there with you if you want. He's my cousin after all, maybe he won't find my presence intimidating. Hang on a minute- Teddy and the triplets are cousins now. How cool is that?!"

Hermione managed to raise a smile but it dropped off her face as she realised that this meant that she had to tell everyone now; she had to tell Harry and Ron!

"Everyone's going to hate me!" she cried.

"Of course they won't. They'll be a bit upset that you didn't tell them to begin with but they'll come around eventually."

Hermione wasn't sure if he was talking about everyone or two people in particular but she didn't really want to think about it and just let Tonks comfort her, wishing that this day would just be over.

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A/N: There you are then. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. It was actually going to include the meeting with Lucius the next morning and a bit more, but it was getting too long. The whole Remus/Tonks scene was not originally in the plan. But, I thought that those two would have figured out that Draco was the Dad and I wanted a bit of an intervention. I realise that those two are supposed to be dead but I didn't have the heart to kill them off! At least I have chapter 9 pretty much all planned out!

The really good news as far as updates go is that I only have a couple of months left at Uni and then I'll have plenty more time to write! Yay! And, at least I have chapter 9 pretty much all planned out!

I've been feeling a bit poorly lately so bring on the reviews to make me feel better!

Hopefully see you soon!

Lil Drop Of Magic


	8. An Unexpected Coincidence

**A/N: **Hello everyone! Not the longest I've kept you waiting but it's still longer than I would've liked.

Lots of love and summer sunshine go to **ONIX-21, ChelseaBabe93, Kandygurl4, ginnylovesharry07, Malfoys girl 01 **(I'm glad you found someone with the same name- even if it is a fictional 3 year old triplet!)**, The Queen of Confusion, miffy (x2), Hermione09Weasley, zcubed, Nymphadora17, Noon's Phoenix **(thanks for the kudos!) and **WitchAllonby**** (x2)** for their reviews!

I should've mentioned this at the end of the last chapter- I don't really think that wizarding legal systems work the way I portrayed them. I'm sure that if you didn't want to take on a case then you wouldn't have to but if that was the way things worked then Hermione wouldn't have touched Lucius' case with a barge pole!

Something for you to bear in mind before you read this chapter is that the search for the horcruxes and Voldemort's demise are not really important to this story!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world

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Chapter 8- An Unexpected Coincidence

Winter of Seventh Year

Early December

Draco just stood there in shock. He couldn't believe it. His own father was the murderer of her parents.

"It was…you?" Granger asked in a quiet voice and she glanced over her shoulder at Draco. His whole body was tensed up in anger- his arms still holding her against him.

Lucius laughed softly.

"You find that hard to believe, Mudblood? I assure you I took great pleasure in the task," he drawled.

Something inside of her seemed to snap and she suddenly launched herself at him. The abruptness of her movement took Draco by surprise and despite his arms already holding on to her, he only just managed to restrain her.

"Don't be stupid, Granger," he whispered in her ear.

The Death Eaters laughed at the young woman's turmoil but Lucius was looking suspiciously at Draco's polyjuiced form.

"Waldegrak," he called and the wizened Goblin stumbled towards the Death Eater. "Who is the man?"

"I can not be certain, Mr. Malfoy," he wheezed, "but he knew the password to your vault. I assume it to be your son."

The Death Eaters all hissed and their eyes turned towards Draco. The look on Lucius' face was unreadable but his eyes were full of malice and Draco could feel his heart thumping rapidly in his chest.

"Is it you, Draco?" his father asked. He was caught; he could see no way that he and Granger were going to survive this. Even if Potter and Weasley had been here with them the number of Death Eater's were too great for them to stand a chance. Well, if he was going to die here then he would go out fighting. He was not going to let his father know that he was scared.

"Yes, father," he replied curtly.

"Well," Lucius said withdrawing his wand. "I'd best make sure." He sent a white spell at Draco, which made his skin bubble just as it had done earlier under the Polyjuice potion. He kept his grip firmly on Granger; still not convinced that she wouldn't do something stupid. When the bubbling stopped, his father and aunt looked victorious and Draco knew he was back to his original features.

"It's good to see you, Draco. I must admit that I've been worried about you; imagine, disappearing off like that." Lucius walked towards his son, blocking out the other Death Eaters so that it seemed like there were only the two Malfoys and Granger in the room. "We didn't know where you'd gone. I was beginning to think that you'd… But, no matter, you're here now. Take your hands off that filthy Mudblood and come back where you belong."

He was quite convincing, thought Draco, but he knew that Lucius was just playing him. He could feel Granger's chest rising and falling hurriedly against his hands and he steeled himself for the coming confrontation.

"I know where I belong," he spat, "I'm not going anywhere."

A spasm of anger flashed across Lucius' face. "You would choose Mudbloods and Blood Traitors over your own father?" Draco said nothing but his intentions were clear.

"I might've known you'd run off like a coward," Lucius sneered. "You always were a big disappointment- you have too much of your mother in you."

"Don't talk about her," Draco snapped before he could stop himself.

"Sensitive subject, is it? I'd have thought you'd have forgotten about her by now seeing as you cared little enough to keep her alive. She'd be so ashamed of you standing there clinging on to the disgusting Mudblood." Despite himself, Draco's grip on Granger slackened slightly; then, as he realised what he was doing held her against him tightly with one hand and with the other drew his wand at his father's chest.

"Shut up," he said through gritted teeth. He was letting Lucius get to him and he knew that he had to keep his cool.

"Weak and pathetic, that's what you are, Draco. _Weak and pathetic_. And despite what other people may have told you, it is _your_ fault that Narcissa is dead and I will never forgive you for it."

Draco tried to respond but he could come up with nothing to say to defend himself. He knew that it was his fault that his mother was dead.

Lucius laughed at his silence and moved back towards Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters.

"What do you think we should do with them, Lucius?" Bellatrix asked. "They could provide valuable information about the Order. I believe the Dark Lord would want to deal with Draco personally."

"Yes, they're too valuable to be disposed of straight away. The Dark Lord will be pleased with the capture of a traitor and one of Potter's closest friends. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to add the whole set of Granger's to my record."

White hot fury erupted from Draco and the flash of green erupted from his wand before he was aware he'd even said the words. The killing curse missed Lucius by millimetres and shattered the desk behind him.

Lucius stared at his son in shock then deepest loathing settled on his face. "Clearly, you're much more of a disgrace to the name Malfoy than I thought. You want to throw away your life for a Mudblood then that's fine but I want it noted by everyone hear that this piece of filth is not my son. Come on, Draco; show me what you've got."

"Draco, no, don't," Granger begged him as he relinquished his hold on her.

"No matter what happens, don't let them take you alive- it's not worth it." He said quietly to her as he turned his back on the Death Eaters. She made to interrupt him but he placed his hand on her mouth. "Hermione, please. I couldn't bear it."

Her eyes filled with tears and she nodded. Then, before he could chicken out he removed his hand from her mouth and replaced it with his lips. For a split-second everything seemed perfect as he poured his emotion in to the kiss. He cradled her face in his hand and she clung onto the front of his clothes. Something wet touched his hand and, opening his eyes he realised she was crying. He pulled his lips away from hers and brushed her tears away with his thumb. He gave her a small smile and then turned to face his father.

Lucius and Bellatrix looked ready to spit daggers at him but Draco felt oddly at ease with the way things had transpired. Of course he was still scared but every moment he kept the Death Eaters away from Hermione, the more chance there was of Potter and Weasley leading some sort of rescue attempt. He could still feel the wetness of her tears on his fingers and he tightened his grip on his wand. This was it; he was ready.

The other Death Eaters moved back to give the two Malfoys room to duel. Lucius launched his attack so quickly that Draco barely had time to bring up a shield. Curses flew between the two of them and although Draco was holding his own, he knew that soon enough one would find its target. A stinging hex grazed the top of his shoulder and he hissed in pain. He wand arm faltered slightly and Lucius could sense victory.

The doors to Gringotts were thrown open for the second time that day as members of the Order of the Phoenix burst into the bank, Potter and Weasley at the front. Individual battles sprung up all over the place but Draco was careful not to let himself get too distracted by the improvement in their situation as his father still had murder in his eyes.

The Order were making their superior numbers count and soon Bellatrix called out for the Death Eaters to make for the exit. Lucius looked around to see the other's leaving and gave a shout of anger. Quick as a flash he sent an Avada Kedavra at Draco, who had to throw himself to the floor to avoid it. Seeing that he had missed, Lucius sent a luminous orange curse at Hermione and fled for his safety.

Hermione wasn't quite able to avoid the spell and it caught her on the arm, the young woman crying out at the pain. Draco rushed to her side, blood spattered on the floor around her. Whatever the curse was it had split open the skin where it had hit her on the inside of the wrist. Blood was pouring out of the wound at an alarming rate and Draco was sure the spell must've ruptured a vein. Hermione was loosing consciousness as the blood covered her clothes.

"Oh shit," he said and knelt behind her, propping her head up on his knees. "Come on, Hermione, stay with me. Keep your eyes open. SOMEBODY HELP ME!" He yelled to the members of the Order who were battling off the remaining Death Eaters.

The young witch's eyes fluttered open and they landed unfocused on his face. "Draco?" she whispered.

"I'm here, don't worry," he said as he tore off a strip of his clothes and bound it tightly around the wound, keeping the pressure on it.

Lupin, Potter and Weasley made their way quickly towards the two of them.

"What happened, Draco?" asked Lupin as he knelt next to them.

"A curse, from Lucius. It's cut open her wrist and split open the vein. She's lost a lot of blood and she's having trouble staying conscious." Draco said as calmly as he could.

"Is she going to be ok?" asked Potter, still in his polyjuiced form. He and Weasley looked very pale and scared.

"I think so," Lupin said quietly. "Hermione? Can you hear me?" Her eyes had closed once more and Draco was very worried that they wouldn't open again.

"Remus," she whispered, "it hurts."

"I know, we're going to get you to St. Mungo's." Lupin pointed his wand at the wound and Draco felt the fabric tighten underneath his fingers. Lupin then bent forwards and stood with her in his arms.

Moody came limping towards them looking livid. "Have you any idea what you've done? Do you know how lucky you four are to be alive?"

"Not now, Moody. We need to get Hermione to St. Mungo's straight away."

"Right, go on then, Remus. You three are coming back with me now," Moody said to the three young wizards. Draco followed the others towards the doors, very pleased to get out of the building that had so nearly housed both his and Hermione's deaths.

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Hermione quietly closed the front door of Grimmauld Place after letting Moody, Lupin and Mrs. Weasley out. She had been discharged from St. Mungo's an hour earlier. They had wanted to keep her in overnight but she had moaned at them until they got too fed up with her.

Moody had been waiting for her when she had returned with Remus and Molly and she'd had to sit through a lecture from him about how stupid and reckless her actions that day had been.

While Hermione was ashamed that she had caused so much trouble and put so many people in danger she would not let herself be completely cowed by Moody's reprimand. "If you'd actually let Malfoy out once in a while then this wouldn't have happened!" she cried.

"It's too dangerous- today must've shown you that," growled Moody.

"How were we to know that Goblin was in Voldemort's pocket? If Malfoy had just borrowed money from me then we'd have had no problems. He's a perfectly capable wizard- he stood up to his father for a few minutes before you guys showed up." Hermione reasoned.

"He needs to be here to receive the reports," Moody said, his eye swirling around in his head.

"That doesn't mean that he can't go outside every now and then. It's not like with Sirius- he was a wanted criminal and even the muggles knew about him. Draco can just go to Muggle London if that makes you feel any better."

"I think we should talk about this at the next meeting," Remus piped up. "Hermione's right, it's not fair on the boy."

Hermione beamed at him before looking expectantly at Molly. She seemed to be thinking the issue over very carefully. "I think he's performed admirably considering what's happened to him in the last 18 months. I agree with Hermione and Remus- he should be allowed to go out. But, maybe, he could have an older escort next time; perhaps you Remus or possibly Kingsley. That would be ok, wouldn't it Alastor?"

Moody did not look happy with the way they had ganged up on him. "Fine, we'll talk about it at the next meeting." He fixed both his eyes on Hermione, "Make no mistake; you're on thin ice, Granger. If you step over the line again then I'll have you stuck in here too."

Hermione frowned as she thought back over the conversation. Moody treated her like such a child! It was gone midnight by now and she felt absolutely exhausted. As she passed by the door of the study on the way to her bedroom, she noticed a light coming from inside. She pushed the door open and saw one of the armchairs turned towards a blazing fire.

As she walked closer to the chair she could see over the top of it and saw that it was Draco. "Hey," she said but stopped abruptly as he came into view. He was nursing a glass of firewhisky and his eyes looked haunted, his face cast in a flickering shadow.

"How are you?" he asked, not looking at her.

"I'm fine; the healer fixed me up no problem. I'll have to take a blood replenishing potion for the next couple of days though and they said I'll have this scar for the rest of my life." She held out her wrist for him to see but he only glanced at it before looking back at the fire.

The cold treatment she was receiving was making her nervous and she wondered how much he had had to drink.

"I'm surprised you can bear to be in the same room as me," he said so quietly she almost thought she'd imagined it.

"What are you talking about?" she asked bewildered.

"Don't you see him whenever you look at me?" he finally looked her straight in the eye and his intense gaze took her breath away.

"Are you talking about your father?" she asked when she had regained control of her breathing.

"Don't call him that," he said vehemently, "he is _not _my father. Not now. Not ever.

Hermione didn't know what to say to that so she said nothing.

"I'm _never_ going to become a father," he said bitterly into the fire and Hermione looked at him in shock.

"What on earth makes you say that?"

"Father's are only a disappointment to their children." His eyes never left the flickering flames as he spoke and swirled the firewhiskey round his glass subconsciously.

"That's just not true, Draco-"

"Malfoy's are especially true of that. They're a curse on their children and we're never quite good enough to live up to our father's expectations. As if I could ever do that to a child. Eugh, the thought of it makes me feel sick."

"You might change your mind, you know, in a few years when you meet the right girl; you might want to settle down and start your own family." It hurt a little to think of him being with someone else but Hermione had to try and break him out of this crazy train of thought.

"No, that's not ever going to happen. The Malfoy bloodline is going to do die with me, Hermione, I swear it."

"But you're different to them! You can be the father you want to be." She reasoned, before adding gently, "You'd make a good father-"

"NO!" he yelled, standing up and throwing his glass into the fire. Hermione stumbled back as the flames leapt forth, bathing the room with light. Malfoy hadn't moved an inch, but remained where he was, breathing heavily.

"Just leave it, Granger," he said, quietly.

Hermione nodded, lost for words at his violent outburst. She knew that he was shaken up from the day's events- she was too- but in that moment, for the first time since he had landed on her doorstep, she had been slightly scared of him. She cast her eyes around the room for something to say to ease the tension but nothing came to mind.

"You never answered my question," he said, his voice and demeanour returned to normal.

Hermione furrowed her brow, "What question?"

"Do you see _him_ when you look at me?" he asked slowly, his voice full of self-loathing.

Hermione walked to stand in front of him, the fire warm on the back of her legs and she stared at him for a few seconds. "I see you." She said simply. "I can see the similarities you have with him: your hair, your skin, sometimes even your eyes; but I see you, Draco."

He turned away from her and she knew that he didn't believe her. She reached out her hand and stroked his cheek. He shivered under her touch and turned to look at her again. "What Lucius did to my parents in no way reflects on the way that I feel about you."

"And how _do_ you feel?" he whispered, his grey eyes boring into hers.

"I- I don't know," she whispered back withdrawing her gaze from his face. She was about to remove her hand too but Draco grabbed it and held it in place, kissing the scar just above her wrist.

"Draco, I-" she began but could not find the words to say.

"I know," he replied. "Nothing can happen. The timing is too complicated."

Hermione nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. "Perhaps, afterwards; when all this is over." She tried to smile but failed miserably and two tears snaked their way down her face.

"Don't," he soothed as he wiped her tears away like he did earlier that day. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity- a hand resting on each other's cheek, not wanting the moment to end.

A particularly loud crack from the fire brought them back to their senses and they reluctantly broke apart.

"Well, I'm going to head to bed," Draco said quietly, staring at his feet.

"Ok," Hermione breathed, unable to look at him either.

He walked towards the door but paused just as he was about to leave and looked back at her as she hugged herself by the fire's glow. "Goodnight, Hermione."

Their eyes met across the room and all was at rest. "Goodnight, Draco." For a moment, time seemed to stand still- and then he was gone.

Hermione collapsed into the chair that Draco had previously occupied. It still held his scent and she enjoyed the illusion that he had wrapped himself around her.

Finally the attraction between the two of them had been acknowledged- it had taken a near death experience to do it but at last it was out in the open. But, for now, they would have to keep it to themselves again.

She sighed. She'd had to do it; all her concentration needed to be devoted to the Horcrux search. The wizarding world was counting on her, Harry and Ron to destroy Voldemort- she didn't have time for a boyfriend. Her responsibilities came first and at least Draco could respect that.

She looked at her scar and smiled, remembering the way it had tingled when he'd kissed it. The scar itself stood out lividly against her pale skin and the realisation that she had nearly died today made her shiver. It wasn't the first time that death had only just been kept at bay and she somehow doubted that it would be the last.

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He found her in the kitchen. Potter and Weasley were engrossed in a game of wizard's chess- not that Draco would want to celebrate the evening with them anyway. He supposed that he shouldn't be too surprised to see her here as this was one of her favourite haunts. She was sitting at the table, staring at a candle that was burning in front of her. She showed no sign that she was aware of his presence but sat with her head in her hands, her eyes not moving from the flame.

"Bloody hell, Hermione, it's freezing in here!" he said as he came fully into the room.

"Is it?" she asked in a deadpan voice still not looking at him.

"Yes," he said and murmured a heating charm throughout the room before sitting down opposite her. "Here," he said handing her a small glass of firewhiskey. She turned her gaze on it and looked at it as though she had never seen a glass before then fixed Draco with a quizzical gaze.

"To toast in the New Year," he explained as he raised his own glass and mimicked tapping his with hers.

She sighed resignedly.

"Where do you keep getting this stuff from?" she asked as she peered down at the amber liquid.

"I found a stash of it in the house months ago," he drawled, his trademark smirk evident on his face.

"Where?" she asked intrigued.

"Ahhh," he said tapping his nose, "that would be telling."

She rolled her eyes but could not prevent a small smile tugging the corners of her mouth which lifted Draco's spirit.

For the first few days after their talk following the Gringotts fiasco they avoided each other's company as much as possible which was not easy seeing as they were confined to the same house. Draco had hated having to let her go after they had come so close but he knew it was the right thing to do. While his father was still at large she was in an incredible amount of danger; Lucius would do anything possible to get rid of the 'mudblood' he perceived to have corrupted his son. The thought of loosing Hermione now, after all that had happened, filled Draco with despair. Whenever he recalled the image of her lying with the blood pouring out of her arm he felt sick. When the war was over and Lucius was safely locked away then they would, hopefully, be able to have some sort of relationship. However, with the way things were heading in the wizarding world at the moment that thought was a very distant beacon of hope but it was pretty much all that was keeping him going.

Yet, after the first few days of obscurity they had seemed to find it much easier to be in each other's presence. Things between them were pretty much back to normal and although they had acknowledged the mutual attraction they did nothing to encourage it.

"So why are you all alone down here in the kitchen?" he asked conversationally.

"No, reason." She said simply and Draco raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Please, Hermione- I'm not Potter and Weasley, you don't have to pretend you're all right in front of me. In fact, I find it rather insulting."

"Fine," she sighed. "I've just been thinking about the past year that's all. First with Dumbledore, then Mum and Dad; it's been a pretty awful year that's all."

"I know," Draco agreed, thinking of his mother.

"I'm just pretty glad that it's over I suppose."

"There's no guarantee that next year's going to be any better," suggested Draco.

"I can't see how it can be much worse."

"Don't say that," warned Draco. "It can always get worse."

Hermione grimaced and stared at the tinsel that was adorning the room.

"Christmas was hard," she murmured.

"I know, my presents pile was seriously depleted this year." He joked and Hermione gave a small smile. He knew that she understood that he was not great at expressing his emotions.

"All those Christmas' that I spent away from them… If I'd known last year what I do now…"

"Don't you dare go all guilt trippy on me again." Draco said sternly. "What's done is done and we can't change it. You can't know what the future's going to bring; the world doesn't work like that."

"Doesn't make it any easier," Hermione mumbled.

"I know," Draco smiled and reached across to squeeze her hand. It was freezing cold but he was happy to just touch her again. They stared at each other for a while but the chiming of the clock made them jump apart.

"Here," Draco said, holding up his glass.

"To a new year," she stated, reciprocating his action.

"To a new dawn," he agreed and they tapped the glasses together.

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The next few months were a lot more positive for the trio as they successfully destroyed two more of Voldemort's horcruxes. They finally managed to locate Hufflepuff's Cup under the floorboards of the Riddle House and then they had turned their attention to an artefact belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw.

They had caught up with Luna during the Hogwarts Christmas holidays and she had mentioned a diadem to them that had been lost for centuries. Harry, Ron and Hermione had begun researching the diadem straight away and, when one publication had contained an illustration of the tiara, Harry realised that he had seen it in the Room of Requirement. A trip to Hogwarts had soon followed and Voldemort was another horcrux down.

Now, according to their calculations there was only the snake left which, was probably going to be the most difficult to destroy of them all. The trio had informed the members of the Order that they were getting ready to face Voldemort head on for they could see no way that they could infiltrate his forces without being discovered.

The trio had turned their focus to finding his base so that they could estimate his strength and, together with the Order members, make some sort of battle plan. However this was proving to be harder than originally thought. Thanks to Draco's information they had found Voldemort's original base a few months ago but it was completely deserted. Where the dark wizard was situated now was anyone's guess. The Order were relying on tip offs and information passed onto them by various contacts and investigating areas of Death Eater activity.

Every night for the past two weeks Harry, Ron and Hermione had taken it in turns in pairs to stake out different areas while under the invisibility cloak for possible sightings of the other side. Tonight was Hermione's night off which she was very relieved about because today, April 23rd, was a particularly poignant day for her.

She had spent the day at her parents' graves in Cambridge and planted some new flowers for them. She hadn't asked permission to go but had left a note for the boys back at Grimmauld place stating that she'd popped out to do some shopping. She hadn't told them about today because it was something that she felt was very personal to her. It had been quite nice to spend time with her parents even if it did sound slightly morbid to be talking to their graves. She talked about everyone and everything; filling them in on all aspects of her life- even Draco. She had shed a fair amount of tears throughout the day and was feeling in a very black mood.

She was home in time to prepare dinner and the four of them sat through a very uncomfortable meal. However, Hermione wasn't too wrapped up in her own grief to notice that Draco wasn't his usual brazen self.

Harry and Ron left soon after dinner, promising to stay safe and leaving Hermione and Draco to sit moodily at the kitchen table.

"I'm going to go to bed," Hermione murmured as she stood up to leave. "Don't forget to clear up."

She did not wait for a reply but hurried out the room to get to bed. The stake outs had left her body clock completely out of sync and she was exhausted. However, as she walked past the drawing room a glint of gold caught her eye. Walking into the room she realised that it was from the thread of the Black Family Tree. She stared at it, entranced by the woven lines and familiar names of the pureblood families.

"I thought you were going to bed," Draco's voice came from the doorway and Hermione jumped in shock.

"I was…I mean, I am." She stammered.

"I didn't think you'd really be interested in a pureblood family tree." He commented as he stood next to her, looking at the tapestry.

"I'm not really. I've just been thinking about family a lot today, that's all."

"Yes, me too." Draco said as he moved forwards and gently stroked around his mother's name. "So, are you going to tell me what's got your back up today?" he asked, his eyes not leaving the name 'Narcissa Black'.

"I could ask you the same thing," she retorted, folding her arms defensively.

"It's personal," Draco frowned.

"So is mine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

They both felt quite childish about the way their conversation had dissolved and Hermione sighed while Draco grit his teeth.

"It's my mother's birthday," they both said quietly before looking at each other in amazement.

"What did you say?" asked Draco quickly.

"Today's my mother's birthday," Hermione breathed. "And you?"

"Yes," Draco nodded, "April 23rd"

"I don't believe it!" Hermione said placing her hand against her forehead.

"It seems we have more in common that we thought!" Draco chuckled. "Come on," he said, steering her out of the drawing room and into the study where he forced her into an arm chair. He disappeared for a few seconds before returning with two glasses and a bottle of firewhiskey.

"Oh, Draco, I don't know. It's one thing to have a toast for the New Year but to drown your sorrows?" Hermione frowned as he handed her a glass and filled it about a third of the way.

"There's nothing tasteless about it. It's a tradition- you drink to honour them."

"How much am I supposed to drink?"

"As much as you want to!" Draco said exasperated.

He pulled the other chair close to hers, sat in it and held out his glass. "To mothers," he proclaimed.

"To mothers," she reiterated. The glasses, 'chinked' and Draco quickly emptied the contents of his glass. Hermione followed his lead and tried not to choke as the liquid burnt her throat.

"Yeuch," she said once she had recovered slightly and Draco filled her glass back up. "Oh, no. No more thanks."

"I thought that Gryffindors were supposed to be brave," he pointed out and she sighed.

"So where did you go today? You were gone ages and you didn't bring back much shopping."

"I was in Cambridge, visiting their graves."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he enquired taking another sip.

"It was personal. I didn't want anyone feeling sorry for me or tiptoeing around me. I wanted to celebrate mum's birthday my own way. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Same reason I suppose. I thought I'd be best doing this on my own. How are you feeling about it all?"

"So, so. Not great- but it helped to talk to them. Well, talk _at_ them. I think I'm getting there though. How about you?"

"Yeah, same. There are little things that make me think of her- in some ways they're the worst because you don't expect them. Each day gets better though. But all this waiting is getting on my nerves. I just wish we'd get this bloody war over and done with."

"Well, hopefully we won't have to wait too long. As soon as we track down Voldemort then things will really start to quicken up."

"You guys have been a bit vague on why we're suddenly ready to bring the Dark Lord down. Any particular reason why?"

"I'm not at liberty to say," she murmured and distracted herself by taking another swig of firewhiskey.

"You can't be serious? You still can't tell me?"

"It's Harry's business who he tells, not mine."

"Fine, from this point on I want to establish a truth session."

"A what?" she asked in confusion.

"We have to tell each other the truth; no bullshit. I won't ask you that question again I promise."

"Um, ok," she agreed, unsure of where he was heading with this.

"Good. Now, answer me this; do you think we're going to win?" he said bluntly.

"What? What sort of a question is that first up?!"

Draco just stared blankly back at her.

"I suppose…Well, yes I think we've certainly got a strong possibility of winning. But I'm not kidding myself that the other side are very strong too. You're after the honest answer?" she asked him directly and he nodded. "The honest answer is that I really don't know."

"Fair enough." He replied as he finished off his second glass.

"Right, your turn; same question."

Draco took a moment to contemplate his answer as he refilled his glass. "I don't know either. I've come face to face with the Dark Lord a few times; I know what he can do and I don't know if anyone can stop him. Whether Potter can live up to this 'chosen one' title is the real issue. But I have to say I'm not sure if I'm overly confident in placing my future in Potter's hands."

Hermione frowned and helped herself to a bit more whiskey. She knew that the alcohol was already having an effect as the backs of her knees felt tingly and her thoughts were becoming slightly more erratic.

"I do know one thing though," he continued. "If the result turns against us then I'm going down fighting. They'll have to kill me before I become a prisoner; wandless or not I'll keep fighting. You'd better do the same. A killing curse is a quick death compared to what his supporters would do to us." He shivered and they both imagined the torture they would have to endure before death would become a welcome relief.

"Draco," she whispered and the blond wizard looked at her concernedly. "I'm scared."

"Me too," he said with a grim smile.

"I'm so scared about what's going to happen. There are so many things that can go wrong, so many people that we could loose; Harry, Ron, the Weasleys, Remus and Tonks, all the members of the Order. I don't think I could bear it if I lost them." Tears formed at the corners of her eyes as she considered the possibilities that lay ahead.

The situation was somewhat different for Draco. He liked most of the members of the Order, sure, but he didn't think he'd be too overcome with grief if some of them died. There were not many people left in this world that he loved. In fact, he realised with a startling clarity, there was only one person in the world that he loved and she was sitting right next to him.

"I don't want the people I love to die." Hermione continued "_I _don't want to die. I'm not ready, Draco. There's so much I wanted to do, so much I wanted to see. All those books I'll never get to read!" she laughed sounding slightly hysterical. "I had it all planned out…but now? I'm never going to get my NEWTs and graduate from Hogwarts, I'll never get a job. I'll never be with the man I love…"

Their eyes locked and neither of them could breathe. Time had frozen as a multitude of thoughts raced through their minds. But then everything accelerated, firewhiskey was knocked to the floor as they stood to meet each other, their lips crashing together. The kiss was frenzied and highly charged. One of Draco's hands buried itself inside her hair, the other pulling her closer to him. Hermione wrapped her arms around him, her fingers raking through the hair on the back of his head.

Draco felt like his whole body was on fire as he felt Hermione's body heat mixing with his. The taste of her lips and the smell of her hair were intoxicating and it took all of his willpower to rip himself back to reality before she pushed him beyond the point of no return.

They broke apart, gasping for breath, their chests heaving. They both knew where this was heading and Draco felt compelled to ask, "Is this what you really want?"

Hermione considered for a moment and realised that this was exactly what she wanted. The rational answer would have been to send him away and protect her feelings but she was not in a rational state of mind.

To answer his question she pulled his head down towards her own and gave him a passionate, heart felt kiss. "There's nobody I'd rather have than you." She breathed.

"Hermione…I-" his tone sounded uncertain but she stopped his words with chaste kiss.

"I want to be with you," she murmured as she kissed along his jaw. "I need you." She whispered in his ear then stood back to look him dead in the eye. "I love you, Draco."

Months of resolve finally cracked and Draco pulled her to him for a zealous kiss. Her lips parted giving Draco all the invitation he needed to move his tongue against hers.

"I love you too," he said as they came back up for air. They continued kissing for some minutes, their hands roaming over unexplored territory eliciting gasps and moans from each other.

"Do you want to move somewhere…a bit more comfortable?" panted Draco eventually. Hermione nodded enthusiastically and they quickly excited the room leaving the bottle of firewhiskey to drip the last of its contents onto the floor.

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A/N

And I think we all know what happens next! You're not going to get a sex scene because I really don't think that I'm capable of writing one and I don't think it would really fit into the story anyway. It's a PG-13 and I don't plan on changing that. It is never said when Narcissa or Mrs Granger's birthdays are so I took a bit of liberty with that and decided to make them veeeeeery coincidentally on the same day! Both of them would be feeling emotionally vulnerable that day and the talk about death would've kicked them on to be with each other.

Just a couple more of points- I don't really think there's likely to be a spell to reverse the effects of a polyjuice potion. There may be a counter potion for it but I doubt one of the Death Eaters would happen to have it on them. I had to have him change back to normal because I doubt Hermione would've wanted to kiss him if he'd still looked like that "dark haired, slightly balding man in his mid thirties with a lean body and a lot of nose hair"

Also, I seem to have Draco drinking firewhiskey in every scene. It wasn't intended but just sort of turned out that way as we've only really seen them at their darkest points in this chapter. I don't think that alcohol should necessarily be used to help people get through difficult times in their lives.

In response to the review by **Noon's Phoenix** I thought I'd share the inspiration for this story. It all started from watching a popular American TV sitcom where there were three baby triplets and I thought, "God, how hard would it be to be a single parent looking after triplets?!" And then it all grew from there. Put your answers for which sitcom it was in your reviews and I might reveal the answer next time!

Don't forget to let me know what you think!

Hopefully see you sooooon!

Lots of love

Lil Drop of Magic xXxXx


	9. Interview With A Death Eater

A/N Holy Smokes! She has updated twice in less than a week! Enjoy the feeling guys because I can't see you ever getting an update this quickly again!

Lots of love to: **pstibbons**(you inspired me slightly in this chapter) **Avanell**(Thank you for such a lovely review!), **Noon****'s ****Phoenix****,** **reader (x3) **(the answer to your question will be revealed in the next chapter), **Hermione09Weasley, redandblack 4eva, TyRaNdE wHiSpErWiNd **and** loveismagic **for their reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world.

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Chapter 9- Interview With a Death Eater

Draco fidgeted with his wand nervously as he waited for Granger to arrive by the lifts in the Atrium. He was not looking forward to this meeting with Lucius at all. For the hundredth time he questioned why he was trying to get his father released from Azkaban; was it really worth forcing so many people to relive the emotional pain of their past? He couldn't believe that the fates had pushed him and Granger together again. Of course he had considered that she wouldn't be happy with his decision to try and get Lucius released but he really hadn't expected it to affect her so directly- he hadn't even expected to run into her, literally.

He couldn't wait for this trial to be over and done with so he could be out of her presence. Just having her near him was playing torture with his emotions. He couldn't help notice everything she did, everything she said. His whole being screamed to be with the one person he thought had loved him.

It had been nearly four years since he had last seen her- a day that he did not like to think about- but she looked quite a bit older. She looked more like a woman, he realised, rather than the teenager she had been before.

Quite a lot of the ministry employees were looking at him, many different emotions appearing on their faces. Some looked angry, others confused, some simply curious. He wasn't entirely sure but he had a sneaking suspicion that the news of his father's trial had been released to the wizarding world. Sure enough, Draco noticed pictures of Granger and Lucius on the front page of someone's _Daily Prophet_ and he rolled his eyes. He was sure that things had been blown hugely out of proportion in the article and he resolved not to read a single word of it.

"Are you ready, Draco?" said a small voice behind him and whirled around to see a very nervous looking Hermione Granger.

"Yeah, sure," he replied, feeling his heart beat increase. Whether this was due to the presence of Granger or the imminent meeting with Lucius he was unsure.

They stepped into one of the lifts and waited patiently for it to take them to Level Nine. Draco could feel Granger's eyes on him the whole time and it made him feel slightly uncomfortable. A couple of times he caught her eye and he could see that she had a strange look on her face, almost as though she was summing him up.

The doors soon opened onto Level Nine of the Department of Mysteries and they both exited to take the stairs down to Level Ten. Granger shivered as she saw the door to the mysterious department and Draco remembered her telling him that that was where Sirius Black had died. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she smiled up at him.

Each step that Draco took down to Level Ten got harder and harder and he wondered how awful Granger must be feeling. He could hear her breaths coming in shortly and quickly and she looked extremely pale.

The air suddenly felt very cold around them and Draco knew what would be there to greet them outside his father's holding cell. And, sure enough about 50 metres down the corridor stood a dementor, its rattling breath causing the hairs on the back of Draco's neck to stand on end. However, immediately in front of them though stood a security guard protected by an Alsatian patronus.

"Hermione Granger from the International Magical Office of Law and Draco Malfoy to see Lucius Malfoy," Granger said, her voice sounding unsteady and Draco glanced nervously at her. Was she going to be able to get past the dementor?

The guard checked his piece of parchment before nodding. "Yep, that's fine. Your wands?" the guard asked, holding out his hand. Draco reluctantly handed his over as did Granger. It was illegal for them to visit a prisoner whilst armed. The guard placed the wands in a wooden box and then tapped the lid with his wand, the box sealing itself.

"I'm not sure how much you're going to get out of him, Miss. Granger- he's very weak."

"Thanks, Tom. We'll just have to do the best we can. See you later then." Her eyes never left the dementor standing between them and the holding cell. She took a deep breath and strode forwards, Draco not expecting her to move so suddenly hurried to keep up with her.

Outside of the comfort zone provided by the guard's patronus Draco felt the temperature plummet even more rapidly and his mind was suddenly plagued with the worst memories from his past.

_"You have failed me, Draco. Lord Voldemort expects the best from his followers and when they fail a price must be paid. _Avada Kedavra!"

He grit his teeth against the memory of his mother's death and focused on walking towards the door beyond the dementor.

_"Weak and pathetic, that's what you are, Draco. Weak and pathetic. And despite what other people may have told you, it is your fault that Narcissa is dead and I will never forgive you for it." _

He was nearly past the dementor now. Granger was nearly hyperventilating next to him and her steps had faltered. He grabbed her hand, determined to get her past this.

As soon as his skin made contact with hers he heard her voice in his head. _"I don't love you, Draco."_

They were level with the dementor and then, finally, they were past it. They hurried quickly to Lucius' door, panting and shaking heavily. Granger released her hand from his, leaving it slightly cold. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a small bar of Honeydukes chocolate and broke it in two, handing half of it to Draco.

It felt slightly bizarre to be scoffing chocolate while his father was lying on his death bed on the other side of the door but Draco knew that they both needed to get their strength up to get through this meeting.

Although it was still very cold, the effects of the dementor were minimal by the door and they were gradually recovering from their encounter thanks to the chocolate.

"Ready?" she asked him. He nodded and she threw the door to Lucius' cell open and strode in, Draco right behind her.

His father was lying on a simple bed, the covers drawn tightly around him. He looked awful; his skin was almost translucent and his frame was ridiculously skinny. His eyes were sunken and he looked blearily at them leading Draco to believe that they had just woken him up.

Recognition dawned on his face and he looked at them in disgust. "Come to gloat?" he wheezed at Granger as she stood over him, her face expressionless. Draco leaned against the wall, his job purely to support her and, if necessary, to protect her from his father.

Lucius' eyes flickered between the two young people before him. "You're still wasting your life on this filthy mudblood, I assume?" he asked Draco.

"Actually, Draco and I are not together and we haven't been for nearly four years, not that it's any of your business." Granger snapped at him.

Lucius looked at Draco and laughed before his chest was wracked with coughs. "I did try and warn you, Draco, but you didn't listen." He rasped. "This piece of filth used you and left you. How comforting to know that I was, of course, right all along."

Granger sent him a warning glance, telling him not to rise to the bait.

"What _are_ you doing here then?" Lucius spat at her.

"I'm your legal representative in your upcoming trial." She said evenly.

"What?!" Lucius said, looking absolutely livid. "There is no way that I'm going to let myself be disgraced by having a _mudblood_ represent me- especially you! I'd rather die!"

"Fine," Granger said, folding her arms across her chest, "we'll just stand here and watch you then, shall we?"

Lucius glared at her but she just stood there watching him. Nearly five minutes had passed until she said anything.

"Don't think for a minute that I actually wanted to take this case on- it was forced on me. But, either way you're going die and, believe me, I'm very happy about that. At least this way you might be able to die in your precious pureblood manor." Granger's voice was full of malice and her face looked at Lucius in disgust. "I wish that you'd be in perpetual agony for what you've done to my family and friends but I'm a professional and I've been given a job. Your son-"

"He is _not _my son!" Lucius snarled, glaring at Draco.

"_Your son,_" she continued, "asked the International Office of Magical Law to try and get you freed so you could die in Malfoy Manor and whether you or I like it or not, I am the best chance of us getting a positive result. The case has already been submitted to the Wizengamot so there's nothing you, nor I, nor anyone can do to stop this from going ahead."

Lucius said nothing in reply and Draco noted that it was one of the few times that his father had been forced into silence and he felt incredibly proud of how Granger was coping.

"So let's get on with it shall we?" she asked and she pulled up her sleeves to make it easier to write. Quick as a flash, Lucius grabbed her left arm and smirked at her wrist. Draco pushed himself of the wall in case he tried anything.

"My handiwork?" Lucius sneered, indicating the still livid red scar that had been present since that day at Gringotts.

"Yes, as it happens," Hermione snapped wrenching her arm from his grip before withdrawing some writing material from inside her robe.

"So, how are the parents?" Lucius asked maliciously and Draco did not like the way things were turning. He realised that his father was going to make this as difficult as possible for Granger if he was forced to have her as his representative. She was ignoring him for the moment but he knew that she would crack if put under too much strain.

"If you could confirm your full name and date of-"

"Do you want to know how long they lasted under the Cruciatus Curse before they went mad?" Lucius could tell that she was finding this difficult to cope with. "They blamed you, you know? They wished they'd never had a daughter with magical powers- they think the magic stole you away from them."

Granger was resolutely not looking at him but the knuckles stood out white against her skin where she was gripping her quill so tightly.

"I could show you all of it, if you want. I've still got it all locked up in my head- that's one of my favourite ever memories. Bring me a pensieve and we can watch every moment. You'll love some of things we got them to do under the Imperius Curse- Bella nearly wet herself laughing!"

He had pushed her too far and she threw the quill on the floor and closed her fingers around his throat, constricting his airways. Draco started forward in alarm but she sent him a look that stopped him dead in his tracks.

"All I have to do is call that dementor in here and your soul will be ripped from you so fast that you won't even have time to blink." He scrabbled desperately at her arm but she held it firm. "It's only you, me and Draco in here. I'll just blame it on the 'out of control' dementor. All of us are wandless and there's nothing we'd be able to do to stop it. You wouldn't object, would you, Draco?" she looked at him and he shook his head. "See, nobody need ever know what happened and nobody would really care. So keep on pushing and that will become one of _my_ favourite ever memories." She released her grip and he took a shuddering breath and his chest was wracked with coughs again.

"So," she continued calmly as though nothing had ever happened, "if you could confirm your full name and date of birth."

The next quarter of an hour passed quickly as Granger continued to ask questions and Lucius replied rather sulkily. Truth be told, Draco was getting a bit bored and was quite relieved when Granger said that she had got everything that she wanted.

She packed her stuff away and looked imperiously down at Lucius. "Have no doubt that I will be trying my hardest to get you freed- not for you, not even for Draco but for myself and my family. I don't really care too much about the outcome of this case because whatever happens you're going to be dead in a month and the world will be a much better place for it." She leaned close to him and whispered, "Sweet dreams," before whirling about and striding quickly out of the door.

Draco cast a cold look back at his father before following her out of the door. By the time he had closed the door Granger was already passed the dementor and retrieving her wand from the guard. He ran down the corridor to try and catch her up but she wasn't waiting for him. He barely felt the effects of the dementor as he passed it this time, intent as he was on making sure that she was ok. He quickly thanked the guard when he retrieved his wand and sprinted up the stairs to Level Nine. The door of the lift was beginning to close and Draco quickly squeezed himself through.

It was only he and Granger in the lift and she didn't even spare him a glance. She was staring resolutely ahead but her frame was shaking slightly. She started blinking rapidly and suddenly her resolve crumpled and she burst into tears. He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her, rocking her slightly. "Shhhhh," he soothed her, "it's ok. It's all done now. You were amazing in there, incredible. You deserve a medal!" he added and she chuckled slightly against his chest. He kissed the top of her head but instantly wished he hadn't. He let her go somewhat awkwardly and she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand as the lift opened up into the atrium and more people crowded in.

They departed from the lift when it reached Level five and he followed her to her office. The walls of her room were completely bare which Draco thought was quite out of character for her because she used to like to stick pictures of her friends and family up in her room in Grimmauld Place.

He sat down in the chair opposite her desk and breathed a huge sigh of relief- very glad that the meeting with Lucius was over. Granger sank heavily into her chair and retrieved another bar of chocolate from a drawer in her desk. He accepted the half offered to him and was quickly filled with warmth.

"I wasn't ever going to set the dementor on him," she said quietly.

"I know," Draco replied. "You just needed to say something to shut him up."

"I shouldn't have let him get to me like that," she murmured bitterly but Draco shook his head.

"He wanted you to cry, get all upset and pack in the case- he wasn't trying to make you threaten him."

"Still, threatening to rip someone's soul out is hardly professional conduct!" Granger pointed out.

"I suppose," he pondered, "but he doesn't really deserve to be treated like a human being after all the things he's done."

Granger stared at him.

"What?" Draco asked defensively.

"I just don't get you sometimes. You want to get him freed so he can have a peaceful death but you also say that he's not deserving of being treated like a human being! That makes no sense!"

"Granger, it's me! When has anything I've ever done made sense?"

Her lips twitched slightly and she pulled a sheaf of parchment towards her and began transferring some notes from her meeting with Lucius onto it. She seemed to ponder something for a moment before giving him another calculating look. "Would you have a problem with me dragging your family name through the mud a little bit in the trial?" she asked him.

"I told you; the name Malfoy means nothing to me anymore. You can do whatever you want with it."

"Thanks," she smiled and quickly scribbled a couple more notes on the parchment. There was a knock on her door and her boss entered carrying a few documents for her.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy," Mr. Cook said as he spotted Draco. "How are things going? I hope everything's to your satisfaction?"

Draco rose to shake Mr. Cook's hand. "Yes, thank you. Hermione has been absolutely outstanding considering the situation she's been put in."

Mr. Cook looked slightly flustered and looked around the room for something to change the topic. "Why have you taken all the kids' pictures down, Granger?"

"I planned on doing a little bit of redecoration, Sir" Granger replied as Draco looked on slightly confused.

"Oh, fair enough. Here," he handed her the documents, "I thought these might interest you. It was good to see you again Mr. Malfoy." Mr. Cook said before exiting the room.

"What pictures are these then?" Draco asked and he saw her glance nervously at him.

"They're from kids I helped when I did a bit of charity work." She answered quickly and Draco had a very strange feeling that she was lying to him although why in Merlin's name she would lie about this he did not know.

"Well, there's not really anything more you can help with now. I'll spend the next few days building up my argument, going over some past cases- anything that can help us win this. If you have anything you want to discuss then just owl me and I'll see what I can do."

Draco was not sure why she had suddenly decided to throw him out of her office but he supposed that she did have quite a lot of work to do thanks to him.

"Ok, well, I'll see you around, Granger." He said as he rose from his seat and left the office slightly puzzled.

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There was a knock at the door and Hermione gave permission for whoever it was to enter.

"Hey Mione," greeted Ginny's voice as the witch opened the door. "I brought you your lunch since I know you're probably going to forget about it with all this work you're doing. And I've brought along something a lot less welcome that I think you've really got to see."

A newspaper landed on her desk and Hermione recognised it as _The_ _Daily Prophet_. On the front page there was a picture of her and another of Lucius Malfoy while the headline above stated, _"Heartless War Heroine to Release Malfoy?" _Hermione scoffed.

"Oh come on, it's not like _The_ _Prophet _have never printed anything bad about me before. I'm not surprised they've made me look like the bad guy- no one's going to be particularly pleased about this case," she said to Ginny but the red head rolled her eyes.

"Will you just read the damn article?" she said.

Hermione frowned and started to read:

_Hermione Granger, Order of Merlin First Class, co-defeator of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and best friend of Harry Potter, shocked the wizarding community last night when it was revealed that she would be leading a case to try and get one of You-Know-Who's most notorious Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy, released from Azkaban. According to the Ministry report, Mr. Malfoy is suffering from the rare genetic disease _Alutorsa _which is most commonly found in Pureblood families but can stay hidden for generations. Alutorsa very slowly coats the inside of the lungs was a sticky substance called _mazpin_ which Healers around the world have so far been unable to remove from sufferers' lungs. The Healer who assessed Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban stated that he believed the former Death Eater had _"a month- tops"_ to live. _

_While many in the Wizarding World will not be sorry to see the end of Mr. Malfoy, they have been stunned to discover that Lucius' son, Draco, has asked the Ministry to prepare a case, asking to have his father spend his last remaining days in Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire. This, in itself, is a surprise as it is well known that Lucius denounced Draco as his son during You-Know-Who's second uprising. Ministry sources say that Draco has decided to forgive his father his wrongdoings and would like to renew the relationship now that Lucius is at death's door. Although many would argue that Lucius Malfoy does not deserve this forgiveness, it is clear that Draco has strong commitments to the love that binds families together._

"Oh, please," Hermione groaned. "This article is complete and utter drivel."

"It gets worse," Ginny warned and Hermione continued to read:

_But who from the International Magical Office of Law should volunteer to lead Lucius' plea? The daughter of two of his victims- Miss Hermione Granger._

"Volunteer?!" cried Hermione. "I didn't volunteer at all!"

"Keep going," sighed Ginny.

_There is no doubting that Miss Granger is the most successful of all the workers in the Law Office but surely this is one case too far. Miss Granger has always been known to be a highly ambitious young woman ever since her school days: "At Hogwarts, Hermione would always go out of her way to do anything that would make her look good for the teachers," says Pansy Parkinson, a former school friend. "She used to steal their lesson plans and learn all the answers the night before so that everything she did would look perfect!" reveals the _Witch Weekly_ columnist. But the decision of Miss Granger to take on this case is a lot more serious than a few misdemeanours from her past- it shows that this talented young witch has developed into a career obsessed drone with a heart of stone._

_In order for Draco Malfoy's proposal to be accepted by the Wizengamot, Miss Granger will have to convince them that Lucius Malfoy's offences during You-Know-Who's second uprising are forgivable. She will be asking the Wizengamot to pardon Lucius for over 40 separate uses of the Cruciatus curse and at least 23 counts of the use of the Avada Kedavra curse when a single use of either of these curses is supposed to guarantee you a life sentence in Azkaban. It is the general consensus of all those in our _Daily Prophet_ office that Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger have decided to put forth a case that they have no chance of winning at the expense of the memories of Lucius Malfoy's victims and their families. But what is quite bizarre about this case is that Miss Granger is supposed to be one of these people!_

_Michelle and Glenn Granger were murdered by Lucius Malfoy on __September 19th 1997__, the day of Hermione's 18th birthday. Close friends of Miss Granger say that this attack left her absolutely devastated and her resolve to continue battling the Second War was severely tested. Only four and a half years on, have Miss Granger's feelings of loss diminished? Does she no longer respect her parent's memories? It would appear that that is the case as she prepares to drag up unpleasant memories for all whose lives have been tainted by the name Lucius Malfoy. Maureen Lipowski's son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren were all murdered by Lucius Malfoy in January 1998 and she had this to say of Hermione Granger's decision: "I used to admire Miss Granger for her courageous part in the defeat of You-Know-Who and, as a fellow victim of Lucius Malfoy's evil I thought she would share my belief that he should rot in Azkaban for the rest of his existence. I will not deny that I feel utterly betrayed and ashamed of her decision to take on this case and I will be writing to Miss Granger to let her know how I feel."_

_Something that is not widely known by the wizarding community is that Hermione Granger, 22, is in fact the mother of three-year-old triplets._

"No!" Hermione cried, staring at the newspaper in disbelief, her stomach twisting into knots. "Sweet Merlin! They've mentioned the triplets! Oh, Ginny, what if Draco reads this?" she asked the redhead, her heart thundering inside her chest.

"You'd better hope he doesn't," warned Ginny. "Draco's not stupid- he'll know they're his."

"They don't name him as the father, do they?" Hermione asked, quickly skimming the rest of the text:

_Managing young triplets and a heavy work load has surely had an effect of Miss Granger's approach to which cases she will take on- the bigger the better! But is she sacrificing her children's happiness and welfare for the sake of her career? The trial is set for Monday and then we will see whether the darling of the Wizengamot is about to fall from grace._

Hermione placed her head in her hands and moaned. "I can't believe it. I just _can not _believe how things have turned so against me these last couple of days! Ugh, I was going to tell him _after_ the trial- I don't know how he's going to react if he finds out on his own!"

"You're going to tell him?" Ginny asked surprised.

Hermione told her about the conversation she'd had with Tonks and Remus the night before.

"They've always known?" Ginny said surprised. "But, why didn't they say anything?"

"I guess they thought that I'd tell them if I wanted to."

Ginny shrugged and returned to the matter in hand. "So what are you going to do about the article?"

"Hope and pray that Malfoy doesn't read it! Because if he does then I'm in so much trouble! I need to tell him on my own terms- this isn't something you tell someone out of the blue! As far as the article itself goes, I'm just going to ignore it for now; I've got too much work to do on this trial to get upset by that piece of rubbish."

The witches had their lunch in a tense atmosphere, expecting Draco Malfoy to walk through the door at any moment. Hermione felt sick and barely ate anything. Ginny nervously bade her farewell forty five minutes later and left Hermione to contemplate the possibility of her world crashing down around her.

She was rather disappointed in the lack of work that she achieved that day but every time someone walked by her office she tensed herself, anticipating a very pissed off blond man to burst through the door. About mid-afternoon the letters and Howlers started to arrive forcing Hermione to listen to people's rants about how she was a disgrace to her parents, a career fixated lackey and an unloving mother. The fact that these accusations were misled by a slanderous article only irked Hermione more.

Finally it was time to pick up the triplets and she allowed herself to hope that Draco hadn't read the piece in the _Prophet_. She met up with Harry and Ron to go to The Burrow and she was very relieved that she could apparate once more. They could tell that she was in a foul mood and when they started to question her about the article she sent them a very savage look that they correctly interpreted as a warning to back off.

She gave each of her children a long and heartfelt hug, feeling very emotional about the day's events. Hermione also hoped that Molly had not seen what was written in _The_ _Daily Prophet_ but, alas, that was not to happen.

"Please tell me that you've released a statement to defend yourself, Hermione!" the Weasley matriarch cried.

"There's no point, Molly. No one would believe anything I say and _The Prophet _will twist my words. They're not going to back down if I just say that I didn't want to do the case and my boss made me. I'll just look pathetic!"

"But they've said such horrible lies about you! They've as good as said that you're a bad mother and that you care more about your career than you do for them!" Molly looked extremely upset as she wrung her hands.

"I know what they said, Molly," Hermione sighed. "But I'm too busy to worry about that for now. If there's still a lot of publicity over this after the trial then I may do something about it but at the moment I need to concentrate on my argument."

The six of them left soon after and Ron, for once, actually volunteered to make the dinner. Hermione sunk down onto the couch and Cato clambered onto her lap, laying his head against her chest. Hermione kissed his forehead and smoothed down his hair as she and her children listened to the Wizarding Wireless Network.

'Can my life get any worse?' thought Hermione and then berated herself, remembering something that Malfoy had said to her back in Grimmauld place on New Year's Eve. _Things can always get worse. _

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Hermione walked down the street to the Lupin's house in Greater London in her normal, muggle clothes. On Fridays the triplets were looked after by Tonks, who only worked as an auror part-time so that she could spend more time with her son, Teddy. Hermione liked this arrangement as the Lupins lived quite close by to the Trio and it gave the triplets the opportunity of travelling by bus- something that they enjoyed immensely!

She had achieved a lot more work today without the threat of Draco Malfoy lingering over her shoulder. She figured that it was safe for her to assume that he hadn't read the article since he hadn't contacted her since the previous morning. However, the amount of mail she had received had increased tenfold and she was getting extremely sick of listening to people shout at her through the red letters. She had made a fair bit of progress today and her argument was beginning to take shape but she was still dreading Monday.

She knocked on the front door and Tonks soon answered, beaming at her. "Hey, Hermione! How're you holding up?" the violet haired witch asked, opening the door for Hermione to come in.

"Oh, you know," she sighed, "I'm getting there."

"The boys are playing in the conservatory and the girls are in the playroom," informed Tonks as the two of them walked into the kitchen. "I saw the article yesterday," she commented as she poured Hermione a cup of tea. "Those reporters at _The Prophet_ have got some nerve going after you like that. I bet they knew that you were forced to take on the case but, obviously, that wouldn't have sold as many papers!"

"Well, growing up with Harry, I've always known the kind of thing that people like Rita Skeeter will write just to make some money. I'm more annoyed that they've mentioned the triplets, to be honest."

"I take it that Draco hasn't read it then?" Tonks queried, taking a sip from her mug.

"I assume so." Hermione replied, "I haven't spoken to him since yesterday."

"Oh, the meeting with Lucius! How did it go?" asked Tonks and Hermione filled her in on the previous morning's events before they were interrupted by Cato and a blue-haired little boy, both dressed like cowboys.

"Mione!" cried the elder boy when he spotted her.

"Hello, Teddy," smiled Hermione, "have you and Cato been having fun?"

"Yep," Teddy replied, "we've captured a hundred Indians today and we're going to get a medal from the Sheriff!"

"Wow!" said Hermione sounding extremely impressed, "you must be really good then!"

"We are!" the little boy agreed. "And I'm going to the Quidditch match tomorrow with Mummy and Daddy."

"I know, Cato, Seren and Elysia are going too- so are Harry and Ron."

"Really? Wow, I can't wait!" Teddy said looking very excited.

"You definitely not coming then?" asked Tonks.

"No," Hermione replied, "I'm too busy with this case. It's not really my thing anyway."

It was soon time for the triplets to leave, so Hermione and Tonks spent the next ten minutes getting them coated up and ready to go.

"See you tomorrow!" shouted Teddy and he waved goodbye as they walked down the road.

"So are you looking forwards to the Quidditch match tomorrow?" Hermione asked the kids. She had Elysia on one hand and Cato and Seren on her other one. They all nodded happily and asked her about all the different things that would happen. She did wish a little bit that she was going with them so she could witness how much they enjoyed it but some free time at the weekend would be very welcome for Hermione if she wanted to get on with the case.

To get to their bus stop they had to walk through a park, complete with swings, a slide and a roundabout.

"Oh, Mummy, _please_ can we play in the park?" Elysia begged.

"Please!!" joined in Seren.

"All right," Hermione sighed, "but only for ten minutes." She had made sure to leave plenty of time for them to play in the park before they had left the Lupin's house but it was more fun for the kids if they thought they were getting a treat.

The triplets ran riot over the park and Hermione was having difficulty keeping an eye on them all. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later she heard Seren crying. Her little blonde daughter had fallen over and scraped her knee. Hermione hurried forwards looking around conspicuously to make sure no one was paying too close attention to them. She crouched next to Seren and pulled out her wand and whispered a healing charm that made the cut mend itself.

"There, there Sweetie," Hermione soothed as she cleared away the blood. "It's all better now. Do you want to go and play some more?" she asked. Seren shook her head and Hermione reached out and held her daughter in her arms. "All right then, you stay here with Mummy and we'll watch the other two."

Hermione watched proudly as Cato and Elysia clambered up the steps to go down the slide and cheered when they each reached the bottom. They started to climb up again when Hermione heard a voice that froze her heart.

"Granger?" the voice was curious and uncertain and Hermione whipped round to have her worst nightmare realised.

Draco looked quite surprised to see her there but then he noticed the little girl she was carrying and his expression changed to one of utter astonishment at what was quite clearly a Malfoy child in her arms.

* * *

A/N Mwahahaha A rather evil cliffie it has to be said but it had to be done!! You guys are gonna be so disappointed when it's another chapter in the past next time- you're just gonna have to be patient!

So, I said last time that I'd tell you where I got my inspiration for this fic from and it's actually the episode of Friends where Phoebe gives birth to her brother's triplets. There's this bit where she has all three of them on her lap and for some reason that really struck me! So, there you go!

Hopefully see you soon!

Reviews make me happeeeeeeee!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop Of Magic


	10. Consequences

Hey guys! This chapter has been so long overdue it's stupid! I apologise profusely for the wait. I can only put it down to some writer's block and the hectic end of Summer/beginning of Autumn I had. I hope this ridiculously long chapter makes up for that a little bit.

I was so thrilled with the number of reviews I got for the last chapter! So, lots of love go to: Avanell, Nymphadora17, Phelix, ONIX-21, VictoriaEnchanted, Writer Of Mysteries, ..Punk., Noon's Phoenix, redandblack 4eva, hermioneism, pink-strawberries, TyRaNdE wHiSpErWiNd, , DracosLover1313, MeIp, Kandygurl4, pnayz4life, MHxxPAPER DOLL, Dark Angel Kiara, Hermione09Weasley, reader, bstwilighter, ctc, falingstar93, miffy, The Queen of Confusion, stonewall363, jazzy, Wistful-Stargazer (x3), lacking a better name, sarahyyy, KatzPotter, IKeepGoldFishInMyBra and harry potter lover!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world.

Chapter 10- Consequences

April of Seventh Year

"Hermione! Hermione get up!" The distant shouts of one of her best friends startled Hermione from a very comfortable sleep. The room was still very dark. She frowned. This wasn't her room…

She turned her head and saw a mess of white blond hair and only then became aware of an arm that was slung over her waist. The events of the previous night came back to her and she smiled as she snuggled into Draco's body once again.

"Hermione? Where are you?"

She'd temporarily forgotten that Ron had been calling her and as this fact sunk into her consciousness she jumped out of the bed as she realised just how ballistic he'd go if he found her in bed with Draco Malfoy!

She winced as her head throbbed painfully. '_Bloody firewhiskey!'_ she thought angrily.

She shivered as she quickly transfigured the clothes on the floor into pyjamas and hurriedly pulled them on, trying to also ignore the soreness between her legs.

"What are you doing?" murmured Draco as he gazed blearily at her.

"Ron's here and I don't think he's going to be too happy to see us naked, in bed together."

"Who cares what Weasley thinks," he mumbled sleepily.

"Just stay here and I'll be back soon," she sighed, as she leant over the bed and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"I'll be waiting," he drawled, as she quickly left the room and hurried to the landing.

"Ron?" she called. "Ron, I'm here!"

She heard the sound of running footsteps and went towards the stairs down to the kitchen. Ron met her halfway, frowning.

"Where in Merlin's name have you been?" he panted from the exertion of running all over the house.

"Sorry," she replied, "I went to the toilet. What's happened?" She hoped that by getting straight to the point he wouldn't find a reason to question why she wasn't in her room.

"We've found him, Hermione! We've found him!" Ron exclaimed, grinning.

It took a couple of seconds for this information to sink in before Hermione gasped and covered her mouth. "Are you sure? It's definitely him?"

"Well, we're as sure as we can be. I'll tell you on the way. Harry's still there, disillusioned, so that I could bring you under the cloak."

"Ok," Hermione breathed, still trying to get her head around it. "Just give me a few minutes to get my stuff together. Go and get a load of food from the kitchen and meet me by the front door. I'll be as quick as I can."

She hurried back up the stairs and only when she was sure she'd heard the kitchen door close did she go back into Draco's room.

"What's all the fuss about then?" He asked as he lifted his head from his pillow. "Did Weasley forget to take his teddy bear with him?"

"Harry and Ron think they've found Voldemort." She said shortly. She didn't have time to indulge Draco right now.

"About bloody time!" he sighed before stretching and retrieving his underwear from the floor. "When are we going?"

"Draco, I…" Hermione frowned, trying to find the right words. "Draco, you're not coming."

His eyes snapped up to hers and he scowled. "Why not? You can't honestly expect me to let you hang around the Dark Lord's base with just those two idiots to protect you from certain death!"

Hermione placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled. "It's been this way for the whole year; we're not going to change things now. And it's not like we're going to be marching into his camp to take on his whole forces on our own. We're just going to do a little reconnaissance. We'll be back before you know it." The last bit wasn't true as she knew they'd have to stay a large amount of time before they had enough information to take back to the Order.

Draco sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on top of her head. "I hate you; you know that, don't you?" he said in a dead pan voice.

Hermione chuckled, "I know." She was sorely tempted to stay like this for a while longer but she knew that she had to get her stuff together. She pulled out of his embrace and smiled up at him. "I'll see you soon, ok?" He nodded but grabbed her wrist when she turned to go out of the door.

"Just promise me you'll stay safe." He said seriously.

"I'll be as safe as possible, I promise."

Then, before she could leave again, he touched his lips against hers. The rational part of her mind told her that she didn't really have time for this but she decided to ignore it. The passion she'd felt the previous night had not diminished at all but become even more intense since they'd been together. The distant sound of Ron closing the kitchen door brought her to reality and she reluctantly pulled away from Draco.

"No, no, no, I've gotta go, Draco. Ron's going to get suspicious if it takes me half an hour to get ready when it should only take ten minutes! He knows I've got all my stuff ready for this sort of situation." She managed to escape from his arms this time and opened the door before looking back and whispering, "I love you."

"I love you too, you annoying, beautiful, know-it-all." Draco sighed as he sunk back onto the bed.

Hermione could not keep the huge grin off of her face as she ran to her room, changed her clothes and grabbed the small bag which had all of their provisions secretly stashed away inside. She met Ron by the front door as arranged and he threw the cloak over them both. They took one step outside Number 12 before Ron apparated them away with a loud _crack._

They appeared behind a large house and Hermione could just make out a mass of trees a couple of hundred metres away from them. She shivered as the cold early morning air made contact with her body and she automatically stood closer to Ron.

"Where are we?" she whispered.

"A small town called Lyndhurst, in the New Forest." He replied. "Come on, Harry's this way" he pointed towards the trees which Hermione now figured must be part of the forest.

"So what's made you so sure this is the place?" she asked as they made their way quietly over to the trees.

"Well, we'd had a tip off that people dressed strangely had been sited quite a lot here recently and apparently there's been lots of other strange happenings around the town. Me and Harry weren't very optimistic that it'd come to anything so we decided to keep an eye out for anything odd on the outskirts. We'd just walked around the perimeter of the town when we heard a crack."

"Someone apparating?"

"That's what we suspected so we covered ourselves with the invisibility cloak and quickly moved in the direction the noise had come from. We couldn't see anything at first because we were looking in towards the town for any sight of them. But when we turned around I could just make out a figure walking towards these trees. Luckily the cloud parted and thanks to the moonlight we could see that it was Macnair, you know, the one who was going to kill Buckbeak! We followed him for about a mile, keeping a safe distance so he wouldn't hear us. Eventually we came to a clearing and, as he entered the trees on the other side, we saw a magical barrier flicker. We couldn't take the risk of crossing it in case You-Know-Who has sensors or other spells monitoring who gets through."

Hermione listened to this all in silence. She concluded that the most likely explanation for Macnair's disappearance into the forest was that this where Voldemort's headquarters were situated. She felt relieved that they had finally managed to find him but she also knew that the hardest time of their lives was just around the corner.

They finally reached Harry who was hiding in a cluster of trees and bushes on the near side of the clearing.

"Have you seen anyone else?" Hermione asked when she had created a number of small wards of their own.

"No," Harry replied, gratefully accepting the cup of hot tea that she offered to him. "I haven't heard or seen anything suspicious. Do you think the same as us then? Do you think this is where he is?"

"Everything seems to fit," Hermione agreed as she sat down on the hard cold ground and rested her head against the trunk of a tree. "What did you find out about the town before you left tonight? Is there anything that would make this location a particularly advantageous one for Voldemort?"

"Nothing off the top of my head," Ron said, frowning. "It's about 80 miles from London and being on the south coast it's a long way from Hogwarts. The nearest city is Southampton but that doesn't have an overly large magical population. I suppose we're not far from the continent so if he had people campaigning in Europe they'd be easy to reach."

"The only advantage I can think of," piped in Harry, "is that he thought we'd never find him and, to be honest, if we hadn't been lucky enough to spot Macnair we never would've known Voldemort was here!"

Hermione sat with her head in her hands and mulled over a number of different thoughts in preparation for the question she knew was coming.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Ron and Hermione sighed.

"Well, we don't really have enough information to take back to the Order yet." She reasoned. "All we know is where he is based and while it's great that we finally know that, there's nothing that will really help us to launch an attack any time too soon. He's chosen his camp well because we have absolutely no idea what is going on beyond the ward. He could have a huge number of his forces stationed there or only a handful! And this is a rubbish place for an attack anyway; it'll be really difficult to keep track of everyone with all the trees and bushes in the way."

"Voldemort's hardly going to come to somewhere of our choosing," argued Harry "he'll just send his Death Eaters to take care of us and keep the snake in there with him," he said, pointing across the clearing.

"Is there any way that you can detect the size of his ward without setting off some kind of sensor?" asked Ron but Hermione shook her head.

"No, it'll be able to sense the spell. But you're right, Ron; we need to find out what's going on in there somehow because we can't just wander blindly into his camp."

"I think we're going to have to wait for another Death Eater to come out and ambush them," said Harry. "Did you bring the veritaserum, Hermione? Good. I think this is the only way we're going to find out about what's going on in there. We can take them back to Headquarters to question them and keep them there until this is over with."

Hermione mulled this over and knew this was probably their only option. "Ok," she agreed. "It's the best chance we'll get. We just have to make sure we're not discovered capturing them. Some other Death Eaters may be just a few metres away."

They spent the next few minutes discussing the finer details of their plan for when someone emerged from beyond the ward. It was agreed that since Hermione was the one who had taken the latest night off, she would be the one to stay and keep watch on the camp while they interrogated the Death Eater. She could tell that neither of the boys felt great about leaving her alone so close to Voldemort but if theirs was an equal partnership, then it was only fair that she remain. She wished that she could go back with the others so that she could witness the interrogation and see Draco, but one of the boys would be back to relieve her a few hours later.

Once that was settled they prepared for their stakeout. The tent that the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione had used during the Quidditch World Cup was erected and Hermione used a camouflaging charm to make sure it was not easily discernible among the leaves. She also performed a heating charm on their surroundings so that they would not get too cold. They could not risk lighting a fire as there was always the chance that the flickering light would be spotted.

It was agreed that a message about their plans should be sent to Draco back at Grimmauld Place so that he could inform senior members of the Order what was going on. Harry volunteered to walk back towards the town for a while before sending the Patronus to London so that there was little chance Voldemort or the Death Eaters would notice it.

The night eventually turned into dawn and the sun steadily rose in the sky but they saw no sign of anybody. They took it in turns to sleep and Hermione found the watching very tedious. She wasn't used to staying still and keeping quiet. Her brain liked to be engaged in some sort of mental task and staring at a wall of trees was not particularly taxing. Consequently she found herself thinking about the events of the previous evening over and over again. She in no way regretted what had happened between herself and Draco but realised that jumping straight into a physical relationship might not have been the wisest thing for them to do. She wished she could talk to him, she wished she could just see him! She knew that he'd be going crazy stuck back in London without knowing what was going on. Hopefully they'd capture someone soon and she'd be able to go and see him.

The sun then began to descend from its peak and still no one had emerged into the clearing. "Maybe they've been sneaking out under an Invisibility cloak," Harry suggested but Hermione sleepily shook her head and pointed out that they would've seen the ward flicker.

Once it had turned dark Hermione prepared a meal using the supplies that Ron had grabbed from the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. She was getting exceedingly fed up now and felt mentally and physically exhausted.

Hermione was just about to take her turn to get some sleep when they saw it. The ward flickered.

"Someone's left," whispered Harry, and all three of them were immediately on full alert.

"I can barely make them out," breathed Ron, as loudly as he dared. Hermione quickly cast a muffling charm on all three pairs of feet before disillusioning the boys, Harry doing the same to her.

"Come on then," she whispered, starting after the figure. "As quietly as you can."

There was no moonlight that night and it was very difficult for them to keep track of the Death Eater while also being careful not to step on any twigs or trip over any roots. They had to wait for the Death Eater to move into some open ground, otherwise there was a good chance any spell they sent at them would be deflected by a tree.

Soon enough the twinkling lights of Lyndhurst could just be made out through the branches and Hermione's heartbeat began to accelerate. Once they had broken through the trees Harry quickly located the Death Eater and sent a non-verbal Stunning spell at their back. Hopefully, any muggle looking towards the trees would've just thought they'd seen a firework.

The trio ran forwards and quickly dragged the unconscious figure back under the cover of a particularly dense mass of trees. Hermione dimly lit her wand, letting its beam fall over the Death Eater's face and all three gasped.

It was Snape.

"What?!" yelled Harry, looking murderous. Ron, too looked outraged and Hermione quickly silenced them both before they made any more noise. They glared at her but she did not take off the spell.

"We always knew there was the possibility of getting Snape or Lucius or Bellatrix." Hermione said calmly. "At least now we've got him he won't be fighting on Voldemort's side when we try to kill him. We've taken out one of his most powerful followers, that's good right?"

The boys nodded stiffly, still looking annoyed about the silencing charm. "You've got to promise not to hurt him; we need the information he can give us." She continued. Ron shrugged his shoulders and Harry nodded again. She rolled her eyes and released the spell.

"I didn't even say anything," mumbled Ron as he bent down to retrieve Snape's wand.

Hermione ignored him as she concentrated on restraining all Snape's movements from the shoulders down. She couldn't run the risk of the jinx wearing off like it had on Draco all those months ago.

"Ok, Harry. I've got him pinned down. You can bring him round now so we can apparate him to Headquarters. Just let me do the talking. He'll try to get under your skin, so just ignore any jibes he throws at you. I don't want to have to knock you two out too."

Harry mumbled, "_Ennervate," _and Snape's sharp black eyes looked surprised as he took them in, all three with their wands trained at his heart.

"Severus Snape, you are now a captive of The Order of the Phoenix and, as such, are assured of humane treatment-"

"-Despite being a murdering bastard!" growled Harry.

"Meaning no harm shall come to you," Hermione continued as though there had been no interruption. "We need you conscious for the trip to Headquarters but if you make any trouble then I'll have no problem in silencing you."

Snape rolled his eyes. "Despite what you may think, you have nothing to fear from me, Miss. Granger."

"Oh, really?" scoffed Ron. "And Dumbledore would agree with that, would he?"

"Yes, he would, Weasley, as it happens," Snape snarled.

"You can't be serious?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Of course he's not," growled Harry, his wand shaking with fury, "he's just trying to manipulate us, like he has everyone his whole life, even Dumbledore."

"There's a lot more to that night on the tower than you think, Potter," spat Snape, his face twisted in anger.

"You killed him, what more to it can there be?" Said Harry, immediately dismissing the idea. "Stop trying to wheedle your way out of trouble; there's no way you're getting away with what you've done!"

"But you need to listen to me. There's much I need to tell you but I can't talk about it here; another Death Eater may walk past at any moment."

The steely determination in Snape's eyes was somewhat unsettling. He was just playing with them, surely?

"Right," said Harry, firmly ignoring Snape's last words and turning to look at Hermione, "are you still ok to stay here?" he asked her.

"Miss Granger is not coming?" Snape looked worriedly at her and Hermione bit her lip.

"Harry, I'm not sure…" she began. "If he says something that…annoys or upsets either of you when you question him, then you may do something that you regret."

"I wouldn't regret it," Harry said fiercely and Hermione sighed.

"That's not helping. If I can't trust that you won't hurt him then I'm not going to be the one who stays behind."

"I want Miss Granger present." Snape stated. "She's the only one who I believe will listen to me fairly."

"Well it isn't up to you, so shut your mouth," snarled Ron before addressing the others in a more pleasant tone. "I'm not staying behind. I want to hear what he has to say."

"Look, we might not have much time. We don't want another Death Eater to come along." Hermione said hurriedly. "Will you two absolutely swear that you won't hurt him, no matter what he says?"

"I promise," they both swore together.

"No, you're not _listening_ to me," stressed Snape. "Granger, I must talk to you right now. It's probably best if these two don't listen."

"What?!" cried Ron.

"I don't know what game you're playing, Snape…" started Harry but Hermione placed her hand on his shoulder, stopping him. If he was so desperate to talk to her, Hermione was intrigued as what he could possibly have to say. Was he still trying to play both sides to prolong his years?

"Let me hear what he has to say. It's not going to hurt, Harry. I'll give him two minutes and then you can take him, ok?"

Harry sighed, frustrated. "Two minutes, that's it."

Hermione smiled and let Snape's restrictions lax for just a split second as she cast _muffliato_ on her friends before resuming her hold on Snape. Harry and Ron looked at her in annoyance but she ignored them so they just kept their wands trained on their former Professor.

"Talk." She instructed him.

"You are the only one who is likely to listen to me when I am not under the influence of Veritaserum." Snape began, "They'll ask me the questions they want the answers to but they won't give me the chance to tell them what they need to know. Once they're done they'll just lock me away or hand me over to the Ministry, but Potter needs to know what I have to tell him.

"Dumbledore's death was pre-arranged. Months before he had told me what I would need to do when the time came. I have been on Dumbledore's side for 17 years."

"Why should I believe you? Dumbledore wouldn't choose to leave us at such a critical time."

"He was already dieing. A curse was slowly killing him. He didn't have long left before that night but he knew all about the task Draco had been given. He was not prepared to let the boy go through with it and offered my soul in place of Draco's."

"Why would Draco's soul matter to me?" Hermione asked, suddenly feeling defensive.

"Lucius told me about what happened in Gringotts. I was…surprised, to say the least. Be careful with him, Granger. He's been through a lot."

Hermione struggled to find something to say, as she felt her cheeks grow hot. She was very relieved that Harry and Ron couldn't hear what they were saying.

"I had taken an Unbreakable Vow to complete Draco's task if he failed to kill Dumbledore and, to his credit, he didn't do it."

"None of this proves where your allegiance lies." Hermione pointed out. "Voldemort would've wanted you to kill Dumbledore too; the fact that you were ordered by the Headmaster confirms nothing. You need to convince me, Snape, otherwise you're facing a lifetime of imprisonment."

Snape closed his eyes for a second and breathed deeply.

"My patronus takes the form of a doe." He said quietly, waiting for this information to sink in.

"A doe?" Hermione frowned. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Please think about the significance of a female deer, Granger. I don't want to have to spell it out for you."

Hermione thought about it for a few moments before something clicked in her mind. "Lily Potter," she breathed.

Snape clenched his jaw.

"You…loved her?" she enquired tentatively.

He nodded stiffly. "We were childhood friends. I lost her when I turned to the Dark Arts and I have regretted it ever since. It was my fault that she was killed. The Dark Lord promised me he would spare her but…" he trailed off, unable to complete the sentence. "Everything that I do for The Order, I do for her."

The emotion that suddenly flared in Snape's usually lifeless eyes made the hairs on the back of Hemione's neck stand up. She was so shocked; she didn't know what to say. But luckily, Snape continued to speak.

"I've been putting people under the Imperious curse to spread the rumours of magical activity going on around here in the hope that someone from the Order would come along."

"Thank you." she said simply. "But you know you're going to have to tell the others about Lily to convince them as well; they're not going to take my word for it."

"I know." He said, pensively.

"I'm not sure how Harry's going to react." she pondered, looking at the boy next to her. "He'll need a lot more convincing than me."

"As long as he listens then it's a start. You have to persuade him to hear me, Granger. There is more that I need to tell him, before he faces the Dark Lord, otherwise we will lose."

"I'll make sure he listens." She said, firmly. "But, please don't tell them about Draco, about…us. Nobody knows and we'd like to keep it that way for now."

"Don't worry, Miss. Granger. Your secret is safe with me. As far as I'm concerned, I owe you my life. I'm sure no one else would have given me a chance."

"Well, just don't turn out to be on Voldemort's side; otherwise I'll look like a complete idiot."

Harry pointed angrily at his watch and Hermione quickly lifted their hearing impairments.

"What did he say?" Harry asked her straight away.

"I can't go over it all now. Harry, I know you're going to find this hard to believe but you've got to trust me; Snape is on our side."

"Don't be stupid, Hermione- whatever he's said to you has been a lie! He's been lying to us all for years. I can't believe he's sucked you in."

"Harry, please, just listen to what he has to say." She implored him. "Listen to him first and then use the truth serum to prove that he's telling the truth. There's more he needs to tell us than just what's going on in Voldemort's camp."

"If you don't listen to me, you will die, Potter. The Order of the Phoenix will fall and the Dark Lord will win!"

Harry still looked unconvinced. Taking a slight risk, she lifted the restrictions off of Snape and turned the black haired wizard to look at her. "Harry, please promise me you'll listen to him."

His green eyes looked confusedly at her. "You honestly believe him?"

"Honestly," she said sincerely and he frowned.

"Maybe we'd better listen to him, mate," suggested Ron and Hermione thanked Merlin that she'd finally gotten through to them.

"All right," sighed Harry. "We'll get on to other members as soon as we get back so they can all witness it."

"Good idea," Hermione agreed. "Well, I'd better be getting back to camp. Just don't leave me hanging, ok? Come and relieve me soon, I want to know what's been happening."

They exchanged farewells and Ron re-did her disillusionment charm which had worn off a while ago. She quickly lost sight of them as they made their way to the edge of the anti-apparition ward that it transpired Voldemort had erected far beyond the perimeter of his camp.

As quietly as she could, she made her way back towards the clearing, hoping that she wouldn't run in to anymore Death Eaters. At one point she thought she was lost but luckily she soon returned to familiar territory and found her way safely to the disguised tent. She quickly made herself a flask of hot coffee to help keep her awake, and then sat in the entrance so that she could see and keep warm at the same time.

The hours passed very slowly and Hermione found herself getting increasingly tired, no matter how much coffee she drank. She had noticed only two more figures emerging from the clearing but none of them had returned as far as she was aware.

She shook herself awake as she realised her eyes had started to close. She wished one of the boys would come and relieve her soon; she wouldn't be much use to watch the camp if she was asleep!

However, as the sun broke across horizon, the inevitable happened and Hermione fell into a deep sleep. A tremor in her wards woke her a couple of hours later and she was instantly alert, wand in hand. Her heart thumping, she looked round to see if she could spot anyone but all seemed to be still. She quickly packed the tent away with a few flicks of her wand, wincing as the tent poles clanged together. She stuffed the bundle into her secretly expanded bag, which in turn was tucked into the pocket of her robe.

Hermione tapped her wand on her head and felt the familiar trickling sensation as she became disillusioned once more. She heard the sound of twigs snapping, as though someone was stepping on them and she hid in the bushes. She held her breath, hoping that it would only be Ron, Harry or another member of the Order. Whoever it was, they were getting closer and Hermione mentally prepared herself to launch an attack. The figure came into view and she breathed a sigh of relief- it was only a deer. She smiled at the irony; it was a doe.

The animal came uncertainly towards her as she stepped out of the bush and she held out a hand towards it. However the doe scampered away when Hermione stepped on a branch, the sudden noise scaring the deer. She saw the ward flicker as the doe leapt back into the trees. She was very annoyed with herself for falling asleep but that couldn't be helped now. Her muscles were quite stiff and she was just in the middle of stretching them out when her heart froze. She could hear a voice. And it was one that was all too familiar.

"I'm telling you, Carling, I definitely saw a ward activate over here," snapped the unmistakeable voice of Bellatrix Lestrange.

Hermione rapidly moved back into her hiding place in the bushes.

"Well, let's make this quick," a male voice replied, "the Dark Lord is expecting us back shortly."

"Don't worry, this shouldn't take long." Bellatrix reasoned.

Hermione hurriedly considered her options; she couldn't apparate away due to Voldemort's spell. If she ran away now the two Death Eaters would surely hear her and follow and then Voldemort would know that they had discovered the whereabouts of his camp. If she attacked then there was a high possibility that she would be captured seeing as she was outnumbered. Her only other option was to stay hidden and hope that they wouldn't find her.

Bellatrix came into view, studying the ground and Hermione realised that it was quite obvious that people had been there because a small rectangular area of grass had been flattened by the tent. Perhaps attack would be the only option after all. She wished she knew where the other Death Eater was situated because he could easily take her out when she revealed her location to attack Bellatrix.

Hermione bit her lip, trying to summon up the courage to stun the Death Eater. Meanwhile, Bellatrix had come to a halt at the flattened grass and Hermione saw her smirk.

"Honem-" started Bellatrix and Hermione panicked. That spell would reveal the location of any humans in the area. She had to attack now.

"Stupefy!" Hermione cried, completing her spell before the other woman and Bellatrix was thrown back on to the grass, unconscious.

Hermione waited for any sign of the other Death Eater but all around her was silent again. And then there was a strange crackling coming from behind her. She turned around just in time to see that fire was spreading rapidly through the bush! The Death Eater was trying to smoke her out.

Hermione backed away as the flames licked towards her.

"Augmenti!" She shrieked, her wand sending forth a jet of water as she tried to douse the flames. But it was no use, the fire was too strong. It was either go out and risk getting captured by the Death Eaters or stay in here and get burnt to death!

She gritted her teeth. There was only one choice really. She hoped the disillusionment charm would give her a few moments to locate the Death Eater before he spotted her.

She took a few quick paces out of the burning bush and immediately she heard a cry of, "Stupefy!" She threw up a shield but she was too late and the red stunner burst into her chest and she fell into darkness.

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When she started to come back into consciousness, the first thing she noticed was an intense burning in her shoulders and upper arms. What the hell had happened? What was wrong with her?

Her mind replayed over what had transpired in the forest and she groaned. She could not believe that she had let the others down by getting captured. They must be so worried about her. She'd promised Draco she'd stay safe...

She tentatively opened her eyes. The sun seemed a lot brighter than it had earlier and she guessed that a couple of hours had passed since the earlier incident.

She could barely feel her arms at all and as she moved her head back she realised why; she had been tied against a tree. She cursed after hitting her head against the trunk and then hissed in pain as she inadvertently moved her shoulders. Her arms had been pulled back so tightly that her shoulders felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

"Go and get Bellatrix," Said a harsh male voice and Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin as she hadn't realised that anyone had been nearby. "The mudblood is awake."

Hermione looked towards where the voices had come from and saw two male Death Eaters, who looked only a few years older than herself. The younger, with mousey brown hair, headed off to his right and, craning her head round she saw that he walked into a large manor house.

She looked back towards the remaining Death Eater and she was shocked to discover that she recognised him. He had been Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team early on in their Hogwarts years. Flint was his name, Marcus Flint.

He was staring at her with such disgust and loathing that Hermione felt extremely uncomfortable and looked away for something to distract her from her terrible predicament.

Her head began to ache terribly and she guessed she must've hit her head badly when knocked out by the stunner. She closed her eyes against the bright sun and tried to think of something positive about her situation. Nothing came to mind…

Hermione opened her eyes again when she heard footsteps coming towards her and she was met with the grim sight of Bellatrix Lestrange. Hermione glared defiantly up at her but the older witch just laughed.

"Well, well, if it isn't everyone's favourite mudblood." Bellatrix taunted. "Now, fancy you turning up in the same forest that we are currently occupying. Out for a morning stroll were we?"

Hermione said nothing.

"Not very talkative today are we mudblood? I think we might have to do something about that, Crucio!"

The curse was totally unexpected and Hermione screamed as she felt pain worse than she'd ever imagined. Bellatrix let up after a few seconds and Hermione panted with relief. Her shoulders ached worse than ever after her jerking due to the curse and she just managed to keep in a groan.

"Hmmm, I think your parents screamed a lot louder than you, mudblood. But I can't tell for sure…"

"Go to hell," Hermione whispered.

"She speaks!" Bellatrix gasped, feigning shock. "But not very politely. I think you need to be taught a lesson in manners, mudblood. Crucio!"

Hermione was tensed for it this time but it didn't make the pain any more bearable and the air was filled with her screams once more.

Bellatrix let up after about 15 seconds and Hermione had to fight against the tears that formed in her eyes. She wouldn't give Bellatrix the satisfaction.

"So, how is my treacherous nephew?" Bellatrix asked in a sweet voice, fingering her wand lovingly. "It was such a pity that we had to leave early on our last encounter. Lucius was very keen to finish Draco off but, alas, it was not meant to be."

Hermione stayed silent again, waiting for the next attack.

"You know, at first I was quite surprised about his devotion towards you. I mean, you're a mudblood for starters, you're one of Dumbledore's pets and you're not in the least bit attractive. But then I considered, he must've been locked away somewhere with you and that ridiculous Phoenix group for _months_. He obviously forgot what a proper witch looks like!" Bellatrix laughed and Hermione glared at her. "The boy has urges, I understand that. But he must've been driven to insanity to want to place a hand on your filthy body.

"I suppose it doesn't really matter how it came about because you'll both be dead soon; but not soon enough that you won't suffer. You see, unfortunately, thanks to you, our family has fallen into even greater disgrace." Her tone was getting fiercer and Hermione swallowed nervously. "Lucius is the butt of every joke; not only is his son a pathetic deserter but he's shacked up with a mudblood too. So believe me, when the Dark Lord gives us permission to end your miserable existence, you'll begging us to kill you.

"But that won't happen for a while yet. The Dark Lord has seen fit to lower himself to be in your presence. He would like to question you and probably torture you a fair bit too. You see, there's no Draco to save you here, mudblood." The dark haired witch snarled, bringing her face closer to Hermione's. "No Potter, blood traitors or idiots from the Order of the Phoenix either. This is it for you. This is where it ends."

Hermione knew that Bellatrix spoke the truth but she didn't want to believe her. She thought about the conversation she and Draco had shared a couple of days earlier. _I don't want to die. I'm not ready, Draco._ Well, she knew that she didn't have much choice over when her life should end but she honestly hadn't expected it to come about so soon after their talk. So soon after it felt like she had fully come alive.

"The Dark Lord is ready to see the mudblood, Bellatrix," Hermione heard someone say and she turned her head to see one of the young Death Eaters calling from the front doors of the manor.

"Excellent," Bellatrix grinned maliciously and with a flick of her wrist, the spell tying Hermione to the tree was undone. Her arms hung limply at her side like dead weights and she rolled her shoulders to get the circulation going again.

"Get up, mudblood," snapped Bellatrix and Hermione, with her numb arms, eventually obeyed, her heart thumping wildly. "Don't even think about running, there's no point." Bellatrix jabbed her wand into Hermione's back and she walked towards the manor wincing as the feeling began to painfully seep back into her arms and hands.

'_So, this is it'_ thought Hermione, '_I'm actually going to meet Voldemort_.' She felt petrified at the very thought and took deep slow breaths to try and calm her heart rate. Her mind turned to those who had met their ends fighting against Voldemort: Sirius, Lily and James Potter, Molly's brothers Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Dumbledore and of course her parents. Had they all felt like she did now?

She could see the look of distaste on the young Death Eater's face and she glared back at him. These people had no right to look down on her, to persecute her because of her birth. She'd be damned if she let any of these Death Eater's know how she was feeling.

"Follow me, mudblood," the young man said and Hermione trailed after him, making a note of where they were going. Her hand brushed against the side of her robe and she nearly gasped as she felt something in the pocket. Surely they hadn't forgotten to search her?

She sneaked her hand into the pocket and felt the distinctive beaded bag. Her heart lifted slightly, maybe there was a tiny pinprick of hope after all. The Death Eaters thought that she was completely defenceless without her wand but there had to be something in the bag that she could use as a weapon.

The young Death Eater opened a big wooden door and Hermione followed him into a large room that, despite the sun beaming down in the grounds outside, was very dark.

Hermione's heart was beating faster than ever, her breathing too was very erratic and she had to try hard not to hyperventilate. She would not show weakness.

Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness she could make out a large number of Death Eaters standing on either side of the room, making an aisle down the centre. And, at the other end of the room, with his back to her was unmistakeably Lord Voldemort. She could not make him out too well in the gloom but his deathly pale, bald head stood out against the rest of the darkness.

Hermione had unconsciously come to a halt and Bellatrix gave her a sharp poke with her wand to make her move forward. Feeling like her knees were about to give way she walked closer to the wizard who had destroyed so many lives. Every pair of eyes except one were watching her as she made her way up the aisle. The journey seemed to take her forever.

Finally she was level with the Death Eaters closest to Voldemort and when she stopped Bellatrix didn't try to make her move any further.

"The mudblood, my Lord," Bellatrix said reverently and Hermione sensed her move away to take her place among the other Death Eaters. Every single nerve throughout Hermione's body was on edge as she waited for Voldemort to do something.

At last he turned round and his violently red eyes bored into hers. Everything stopped: her heart, her lungs, everything. Her whole world was lost to those eyes.

'_This isn't good; it's not like being lost in Draco's eyes'_ she somehow managed to think through the numbness surrounding her brain and she managed to pull her eyes away from his. She gasped as everything rushed back into her consciousness and she became aware of her surroundings once more.

She quickly looked at the ground so that she didn't have to see those eyes, her heart once again pounding in her ears. Had Voldemort been using Legillimency on her? She certainly hoped not; there were a lot of things she had absolutely no intention of telling him. She tried to remember all that Harry had told her about Occlumency, about closing her mind, about trying to become devoid of emotion which was very hard when you're absolutely terrified!

"So, this is Harry Potter's mudblood friend," Voldemort said at last and Hermione's skin crawled at the mockery in the high-pitched voice. He walked towards her and circled round her slowly. "I must say, all the things I've heard about you: your excellent grades, your intelligence, your courage…I thought you'd pose a more impressive figure. But here you are, a mere filthy, foolish, mudblood girl."

Hermione didn't say anything. She didn't think her mouth would be able to form words even if she tried.

"Your faith in Harry Potter has been severely misplaced." He continued as he came to stand in front of her again. "That boy left you on the edge of my forces; as good as left you to die. And die you shall, once I have gotten what I want from you. This is one of those rare opportunities that a mudblood will be of any use to me."

The Death Eaters in the room laughed causing shivers to run down Hermione's spine.

"We have been unable to locate a member of the Order of the Phoenix recently. I'm very interested to hear what your pathetic resistance group have been up to. You will be tortured for information, Miss Granger and then when you have told me all I need to know, I will hand you over to Lucius."

Hermione looked up at Voldemort in time to see him smile at a Death Eater to the left of the room. Hermione followed his gaze and was met with the cold grey eyes of Lucius Malfoy. Those eyes, so similar to Draco's and, yet again, so different. She had no doubt whatsoever that Lucius was planning on making her death as painful as possible.

"Yes," Voldemort added in a mocking, sympathetic tone. "Poor old Lucius has been through a lot lately. First off, he lands himself a stretch in Azkaban for failing to retrieve a Prophecy from a bunch of children, one of which was you, of course." Voldemort said, briefly turning his head to look at her and Hermione was not fast enough to look away. His demonic red eyes and snakelike features were no less terrifying when seen a second time.

"Then," he carried on, still in that mocking voice, "his wife is killed because his son is too weak to carry out a simple set of instructions."

Hermione found herself biting her lip to stop herself from defending Draco. She could not believe that she had been about to speak back to Voldemort! '_I suppose love gives us the courage we didn't know we had,_' she thought and felt a little braver.

"This same son then disappears off the face of the earth until he is discovered, trying to take money from his father's account." Hermione glanced over at Lucius and could see that he was furious. His hands were balled into fists, his whole face was taut and his eyes were icier than ever. "But, that is not all," Voldemort's voice changed and became much darker, like a hissing. "Not only is his son now a member of the Order of Phoenix but he's in love with a mudblood."

Hermione swallowed nervously as she felt the tension in the room increase.

"And not just any mudblood," he sounded calmer again, more contemplative. "No, Harry Potter's best friend, the same filthy mudblood who helped send his own father to prison. The girl who represents everything he's been taught to hate…" He paused then and Hermione was unsure of what was to happen next.

"What makes you think you are worthy, to even _breathe_ the same air as someone like Draco Malfoy?" Voldemort abruptly spat as he advanced towards her, wand suddenly drawn. She took a few hurried steps backwards, careful not to trip over her robes. "The boy may be the worst of our kind but he is still superior to you in _every_," he flicked his wand sideways and Hermione's face was jerked to the side, as though he had slapped her, "_single, way," _he did it twice more. The last time with such force that she fell to the ground.

She scrambled to her feet, her head still spinning and glared at Lord Voldemort. "If that's the case, then every one else in this room is superior to you too!" she snapped, at the end of her tether. "Your father was a muggle, or had you forgotten that, Tom Riddle Junior?"

"How _dare _you!" Voldemort cried, outraged. "_Crucio!_"

Hermione was thrown against the floor again as, for the third time in less than an hour she was subjected to the most excruciating pain imaginable. The large room echoed with her screams as the Death Eaters surrounding her jeered.

Voldemort eventually let up and she lay panting on the floor, eyes closed, struggling to recover. A loud hissing near her ear made her jump to her feet and she was shocked to see a large snake circling around her. Voldemort hissed back to the snake and Hermione realised that this must be Nagini.

She could not believe that she was this close to Voldemort's last remaining horcrux. Ron and Harry would surely never get as good an opportunity as this to kill the snake. If she was going to die shortly then she was going to try her hardest to take the snake down with her. A plan formed rapidly inside her mind, she just hoped that it would work.

"All that ridiculous Gryffindor bravado has made you forget your place, _mudblood_." Voldemort said, coldly. "You will learn that lesson before you die. And then, if Nagini does not wish to eat you, we will send your mutilated body to Potter and Draco."

"It will only make them stronger," Hermione growled defiantly, hoping that what she said was true. She wished that the guys would not let her death prevent them from what they had to do.

"You think that I'm scared of those two _boys?_" Voldemort scoffed and the Death Eaters laughed.

"If you're not, then why are you hiding in a forest?" Hermione enquired.

"We are not _hiding_, you ignorant girl!" spat Bellatrix.

"Now, now Bella," reprimanded Voldemort and Hermione used the distraction to sneak her hand back into her pocket and unclasp the bag within. "The mudblood is just trying to provoke you; she knows that the real reason we're here is that a covert overtaking of the government is much less costly than outright war."

"No matter," Hermione said simply. "When the time comes, Harry _will_ defeat you and the rest of the wizarding world will rejoice." The Death Eaters laughed uproariously at this. Voldemort's eyes burned a darker red than ever as he waited for his followers to quieten down.

"The boy knows where I am," Voldemort said simply, "why doesn't _he_ attack _me_?"

Hermione said nothing. There wasn't anything she could say that didn't reveal information about the Order. Voldemort smiled, triumphantly.

"You see," he announced to the others, raising his arms in victory, "All those who secretly doubt me- doubt my ability to defeat the boy. Harry Potter knows where I am but he does nothing. Every moment that the boy delays we grow stronger, we take more control over this country."

While Voldemort was walking up and down the aisle in the centre of the room, addressing his troops, Hermione conspicuously rooted through her bag. It was so difficult to find something in her enlarged bag without being able to see inside! She nearly jumped when her fingers brushed over the cool, smooth texture of a Basilisk fang but then her spirits increased a hundred fold. She was so relieved that they'd taken a few extra fangs when they'd visited Hogwarts to destroy Ravenclaw's diadem.

She pulled her hand back slightly so that the fang came free of the bag and she wrapped her fingers tightly around it, ready for the perfect moment to strike. She peered cautiously around to see if anyone had noticed her movements but they were all staring reverently at Voldemort.

"Your kind will no longer disgrace wizarding society," he sneered, suddenly addressing Hermione again. "All the mudbloods and blood traitors will be hunted down and killed. Every last one. Maybe you can take solace in the fact that your friends will soon all be dead too."

If she was going to have any chance of living beyond the next five minutes Hermione knew she had to give the performance of her life. Voldemort knew when people lied to him…

"Don't say that," she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. "They'll beat you. I know they will."

"They will all be killed," Voldemort crowed, "every man, woman and child who stands in our way. The bodies will pile up to the sky, and be left for the birds to eat like the vermin that they are."

"No," a couple of tears crawled down her cheeks, "no, it won't happen. They won't let it happen." She angrily cuffed the tears away. "Harry and Draco will _never_ let it happen."

The occupants of the room laughed at the pitiful girl in front of them, Voldemort's high pitched chuckle easy to distinguish. "They'll be the first to be killed. As long as Harry Potter is alive, the rest of the world will still carry a beacon of hope. But as soon as the boy is brave enough to come and face me they will all see how foolish they were to put their faith in him, just like you and Draco."

"You're wrong!" Hermione cried, hysterically and took a step backwards which, unfortunately happened to be on Nagini. The snake hissed at her and Hermione screamed and stumbled further backwards towards the door, as Nagini advanced towards her.

The Death Eaters laughed heartily while Voldemort hissed at the snake. He must have told Nagini to stop because she just started circling Hermione again.

"Behold, Lucius, your prospective daughter in law," Voldemort sneered. "Thank Merlin we shall be able to put a stop to nonsense such as this. Just imagine what filthy muddy grand children you'd have!"

The Death Eaters laughed harder than ever, Voldemort joining in too while Bellatrix and Lucius exchanged dark looks. No one was paying too close attention to Hermione, the snake was directly in front of her and she doubted she'd be able to get closer to the door without anyone noticing. Hermione seized her moment.

She quickly snatched the Basilisk fang from her pocket and slammed it down into Nagini's skull with as much force as she could muster. Then, before anyone realised what had happened she pelted for the door, only just exiting from the room before a spell shattered the floor behind her.

She could here a stunned silence behind her before Voldemort's high pitch voice shrieked, "Get after her! I want her _alive_!"

Hermione sprinted along a couple of corridors hoping that she was going the right way. No one was there to obstruct her and she assumed that they had all been in the hall. She could hear running footsteps behind her and she was beginning to feel desperate when finally she saw the main door. She flung it open and pelted into the woods, hearing the door slam open again as she raced between the trees. Her lungs and legs screamed at her to slow down but she knew that she was running for her life. If the Death Eaters caught her now then there was no chance of her escaping again.

She swerved as she sensed spells coming towards her and she was so grateful that the numerous trees prevented the Death Eaters from getting a clear target on her. Although being in the forest meant that she had to be very careful of where she was treading; a misstep and she could find herself falling over and then the Death Eaters were sure to catch her.

She kept running for another few minutes, without any idea where she was headed, before pausing to hide behind a tree. No one had sent any spells her way for a while and she hadn't been able to make out anyone following her. She stayed as silent as she possibly could, (which was quite difficult as she was severely out of breath) while she waited to see if there was anyone behind her.

No one appeared so Hermione allowed herself a small sigh of relief before re-evaluating her situation. She had absolutely no idea how she was going to get back to the others as she was completely and utterly lost and she didn't have her wand. A decent amount of muggle money was stored in her bag but she had no way to communicate to the Order that she was ok.

She decided that the best thing to do was to keep going until she found a muggle settlement and ask them if she could use their phone to order a taxi. Just finding somewhere would be difficult enough seeing as the New Forest covered such a vast area. Or, hopefully she would soon walk beyond Voldemort's anti-apparition barrier and be able to get away from this nightmare, seeing as she didn't need a wand to disapparate.

She set off, walking briskly as she couldn't stand the thought of being anywhere near Voldemort and his followers. She could not believe what had happened but decided not to think too much about it- she had a long way to go before she was safe yet.

Hermione stumbled on through the trees for a few more minutes before she passed through what was unmistakeably Voldemort's ward. Cursing, she looked around for somewhere to hide. Voldemort would surely have felt the tremor as she passed through. If he was as smart as she thought he was, he'd lift the anti-apparition barrier and let all his Death Eaters apparate around the perimeter of the ward in the hopes that one of them would find her.

If that was true then maybe she'd be able to escape when he lifted the barrier! Feeling suddenly excited at the prospect of getting away from here she decided to hide so that no Death Eater would see her if they apparated into her location.

She spotted a tree that looked like it would take her weight and as quick as she could she climbed up a few branches and made sure that she was covered with a fair amount of foliage.

Seconds after she had hidden herself, Hermione heard the familiar crack of apparition and she held her breath. She knew that it was now or never. She tried to turn slightly on the branch but nothing happened. She tried again but was met with the same result. Cursing inside her head she realised that Voldemort must've only let the barrier down for a split second to let his Death Eater's through.

Now she was stuck in a tree with a Death Eater skulking around below her. If the Death Eater caught her now then she might as well kiss her life goodbye. She was in the same dilemma as a few hours earlier; did she risk attacking the Death Eater before they cast a revealing charm? This time, of course, she didn't have her wand so she'd just have to attack them physically. If she managed to get their wand off of them, then she'd be able to stun them and hopefully make a safe escape to beyond Voldemort's anti apparition ward!

She listened intently and could hear the person treading on the ground somewhere just outside of her vision. Then, after a few moments she could just make out a disillusioned figure beneath her. The Death Eater got closer and closer and Hermione quickly weighed up her options: attack or hope for the best?

The Death Eater moved directly beneath her tree and Hermione made a snap decision. She jumped down on the figure, whose breath was forced from their lungs and they both landed heavily on the woodland floor. Hermione heard a snap and with dismay knew that the Death Eater's wand must have snapped. But at least this meant that they were both without magic and the only way this person was going to capture her now was if he physically restrained her and there was no way Hermione was going down without a fight.

The Death Eater underneath her screamed in anger and Hermione realised with alarm that it was Bellatrix Lestrange! Momentarily stunned at her bad luck, Hermione was too late to react as Bellatrix flipped them over, the older witch's hands going around her throat.

Hermione tried to draw in breath but Bellatrix's hands were cutting off her air supply. Hermione's body struggled underneath and her fingers scrabbled around Bellatrix's face, looking for a weak spot. Finally she found her eyes and Bellatrix screamed and got off of her as Hermione sunk her fingers into them.

Gasping in some air and wincing as it travelled down her bruised windpipe, Hermione looked around for some sort of weapon. She saw a large branch on the floor and picked it up awkwardly. Bellatrix was still covering her eyes and so did not see Hermione whack the branch into her chest. Bellatrix was winded once more and fell to her knees before Hermione hit her again, this time around the head. The older witch collapsed fully onto the floor and Hermione scurried away from her, putting as much distance between herself and Voldemort's ward as she could.

As she crashed through the woods Hermione was aware that Bellatrix was not too far behind her. She put all the energy she had into keeping herself away from Bellatrix's clutches but the older which was gaining on her.

Then, as Hermione had just broken out of the trees into some heath land, Bellatrix threw herself at her and the two of them tumbled down the steep hill. Hermione cried out as rocks, roots and thorns made contact with her body and she thought they'd never stop rolling. Finally the ground evened out and the two witches were flung apart and Hermione came to a stop in a muddy puddle.

She lay on the ground in absolute agony; sure that one of her legs was broken. She could hear no noise from Bellatrix but knew that she had to keep going. She could not be defeated now.

She crawled out of the puddle using her hands and one working leg. However, she had moved only a few metres before darkness began to seep into her vision. "No," she whispered, hoarsely, "I can't stop…" but the darkness was spreading, and she could go no further.

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"Mum! Mum, quick I've found her!" a voice pierced through Hermione's consciousness. She could recognise the voice as Ginny's but she couldn't really understand what her friend was saying, nor was she capable of making a response.

"Oh God, Hermione can you hear me?" Ginny's worried voice continued. She heard some more footfalls and then, after a short pause Molly Weasley's voice spoke.

"She's alive, Ginny, but only just. We need to get her to Poppy Pomfrey straight away." Molly then muttered a charm and Hermione had the distinct feeling that she was being moved.

"Bill, we've found her!" called Ginny's voice and Hermione heard yet more running footsteps.

"Thank Merlin," Bill's voice replied, sounding relieved, before adding in a quieter tone. "Mum, there was a body a bit further along. It was Bellatrix Lestrange."

Both of the women gasped. "Hermione didn't…didn't kill her, did she?" asked Ginny.

"I don't think so," said Bill. "It looks like Bellatrix bashed her head on a rock- there was blood coating her hair and face."

"We'll deal with that later," said Molly, sternly. "Our priority right now is to make sure that Hermione is safe." Molly's voice was getting quieter and Hermione struggled to stay with the conversation. It was comforting to hear the voices she loved but she was fighting a loosing battle as she slipped back into unconsciousness.

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Hermione suddenly became aware of the bright light against her eye lids. She screwed them up so that the brightness didn't seem so intense but this didn't work. Admitting defeat she slowly opened her eyes and was met with a ceiling of white linen. She supposed that it was some sort of medical tent, seeing as she herself was laying in a bed that very strongly resembled those of the Hospital Wing in Hogwarts. The shadows laying on the canopy of the tent looked like trees so Hermione assumed she was still in the New Forest area.

She began to sit up but a firm hand pushed her down. Turning her head to the side, Hermione saw that it was Ginny and the younger witch was wearing a very relieved smile.

"Oh, 'Mione, it's so good to see you awake." Ginny gushed. "You've been unconscious for a few days and we were starting to think you'd never wake up! Every one's been so worried about you. They've all been sitting here for hours on end in case you woke up. They've been called to a special Order meeting though, that's why it's just me."

"What's happened?" Hermione asked. "Bellatrix, Voldemort- "

"He's dead!" Ginny cried, ecstatically. "Harry defeated him! It's all over!"

Hermione's jaw dropped. "You're kidding?" she asked, not daring to believe that it was really true.

"As if I'd joke about a thing like that!" Ginny scoffed, unable to keep the grin off her face.

The curtains around Hermione's bed were opened and Madam Pomfrey entered, also wearing a look of utmost relief. "Ah, good. It's about time Miss. Granger! I've had to answer a hundred questions a day about the state of your health."

Hermione grinned. The euphoric feeling surrounding her was palpable and she couldn't wait to celebrate with her friends.

"Right," Madam Pomfrey said formally and Hermione tried to concentrate her mind. "You were in a pretty bad way when they brought you in, Miss Granger. Your left leg was broken, a number of your ribs were severely bruised, and you'd received a few bumps to your head, not to mention the dozens of minor cuts and bruises all over your body. Plus, you were very near hypothermia which is hardly surprising since you'd been left unconscious in the heath for well over 24 hours. But, you'll be happy to hear that all of that has been fixed. I'll be keeping you in for another couple of days, just to make sure that the head injuries aren't more serious than they appear to be."

Hermione wasn't best pleased about having to stay in bed for the next two days but considering how much her body had been through she decided not to argue. Madam Pomfrey had stopped talking but Hermione sensed there was something else she wished to say.

"Go on," Hermione instructed, unsure as to what else Madam Pomfrey had to say.

"There is something else," the healer said slowly before turning to Ginny. "Miss Weasley, I think it would be better for Miss Granger to hear this on her own."

"Oh, ok," said Ginny, frowning and she started to move out of the area.

"Wait," Hermione called. "You don't have to leave, Ginny. Stay here." Judging by her tone, Madam Pomfrey was going to give her some bad news and Hermione wanted someone to stay with her, just in case.

Madam Pomfrey waited until Ginny was standing next to Hermione once more before casting a silencing charm around her bed. "While I was doing some general tests and observations I discovered something quite unexpected." Madam Pomfrey paused and Hermione's heart rate suddenly increased. What had happened? What was wrong?

"Miss Granger, you're pregnant."

_You're pregnant._ The words resonated in her mind as she struggled to take it in. "Wha…What?" she stammered, feeling like the world was crashing down on her. "There must be a mistake!" She glanced across at Ginny, the red head's mouth was open and she looked flabbergasted.

"No, no mistake. You're just under one week pregnant." Madam Pomfrey informed her.

"But, I was protected!" Hermione cried, clutching at straws.

"What method did you use?" Pomfrey asked tentatively.

"It's a muggle method, actually." Hermione began, trying to ignore the Healer's frown. "A pill. My mother started me on it, to regulate my, er, time of the month but it's a birth control pill too. My periods used to be really painful and strong and all over the place so Mum used to send me big batches to cover my time at Hogwarts. I would have needed to get myself some more soon because she sent the last batch on my birthday and I'm about to run out!" She was babbling now and sounded close to hysteria.

"There, there, dear," Madam Pomfrey soothed producing a flask of calming potion from her robe and pouring out a small dose for Hermione to take. "Here, this will help."

Hermione took it eagerly while Ginny stroked her back, still looking very shocked.

"I'm afraid, Miss Granger that it is believed the muggle 'pill' method of contraception is not effective when taken by witches. While it will regulate your menstruation, the magic in your body neutralises the contraception part."

"What?" Hermione cried, outraged. "Why isn't this told to students?"

"The school does not believe in sexual intercourse before marriage and, as such, does not flaunt practices in contraception. A vast majority of students simply chose to use magical methods of protection found through their own personal research."

Hermione couldn't believe this. She had never contemplated researching magical methods of contraception- she'd been too busy trying to discover ways to destroy Voldemort!!! Through her disbelief she sensed that Madam Pomfrey still wasn't finished.

"There's more?" Hermione asked weakly and the Healer nodded.

"There have been very limited findings on the effectiveness of the pill when use by witches as barely any of them use it and it has not been in use in the muggle world for too long. Statistically, Miss Granger, you are a very rare case."

This did not make Hermione feel any better.

"It has been suggested that, in terms of contraception, the pill has the opposite effect when taken by a witch and makes her more fertile. May I ask whether the father is a pureblood?" Madam Pomfrey asked tentatively.

"Yes, he is," Hermione replied, not liking where this was headed.

"Ok, well from the very few previous cases there have been, it seems that the more magic that is in the ancestry of the male genes, the higher the chance of multiple births when combined with the pill. Miss Granger, I think you should prepare yourself for the almost certainty of giving birth to at least twins."

"_At least_ twins!" Hermione exclaimed. "What's the worst case scenario we're talking about here?"

"Well, since I discovered your pregnancy and found traces of the muggle pill in your blood I researched cases similar to yours. Ninety percent of the cases resulted in the pregnancy producing twins or triplets but I did come across one pregnancy that ended with quintuplets."

"Quintuplets, as in five babies?" Hermione asked weakly.

Madam Pomfrey nodded.

Hermione hung her head in her hands. This couldn't be happening to her. One baby had sounded bad enough, but possibly five? That was incomprehensible.

"Well, however many you end up with, Miss. Granger, they're right little fighters to hang on after all you've been through."

"Are they ok?" Hermione asked worriedly, looking up and subconsciously placing a hand on her midriff.

"The pregnancy has progressed fine as far as I can tell," Madam Pomfrey replied. "It's extremely early days yet so you'll probably want to get them checked quite frequently if you decide to go through with this."

Hermione said nothing and the Healer thought it would probably be best to leave the young witch to her thoughts now.

"I'll be here if you need anyone to talk to, Miss Granger," Madam Pomfrey said, shutting the curtains behind her.

"Oh my God, Hermione, are you ok?" asked Ginny in amazement.

"Not really," she replied, struggling to keep herself together. For two minutes everything had seemed right in the world; Voldemort was gone and she could do whatever she wanted with her life! Now…now she had one of two options: end up to five lives that had barely begun or give up her hopes and dreams, _her_ life, to look after them.

"Are they Ron's?" asked Ginny, unable to keep the questions in. "They are, aren't they? Oh, I'm going to be an auntie!"

"Ron's not the father." Hermione said bluntly. Ginny looked at her in surprise.

"Well, who is it then?" she asked.

"It's Draco," Hermione revealed in a voice barely above whisper.

"Draco…Malfoy?" Ginny enquired flatly.

"Of course, Malfoy. What other Draco do you know of?" Hermione sighed.

"Wow," Ginny breathed. "I really don't know what to say."

"We're in love," Hermione said quietly. "Have been for months. We only admitted it to each other the other day. We were talking about family, life and death. Some alcohol was consumed and then one thing led to another…" she trailed off, tears forming in her eyes. "Oh, Ginny, what have I done," she sobbed, breaking down.

The redhead immediately sat on the bed and enveloped her friend in a tight hug. "It's ok, Hermione," she soothed. "You'll get through this, no matter what you choose to do."

Hermione stopped crying a couple of minutes later and withdrew from Ginny's embrace, wiping away her tear tracks.

"I shouldn't be so shocked about you two now I come to think about it." Ginny said thoughtfully. "I was at home, still on Easter holiday, when the message came through about Snape. There was no way I was going to be left behind so I went to Grimmauld Place too. Draco seemed really anxious about something throughout that whole time- he must've been worried about you being here on your own.

"And then, when we found out you were missing, he was ready to march straight into Voldemort's camp to find you. But I think Snape spoke to him and managed to calm him down. It's only looking back that I can remember this- at the time I think we were all just too worried about you. He's barely left your side since you've been found, you know."

"Huh?" Hermione asked startled. She hadn't been listening to Ginny at all. She'd been so caught up in the initial shock of being pregnant that she hadn't even thought about Draco. How on earth was he going to take the news? Her mind immediately flitted back to what he had said after their run in with the Death Eaters in Gringotts:

"_The Malfoy bloodline is going to do die with me, Hermione, I swear it."_

And then he had gotten so angry when she had suggested that he may change his mind in the future. He wouldn't force her to terminate the pregnancy, would he? She supposed that in terms of her future it would make sense not to have the baby or babies. She wasn't anywhere near ready to become a parent!

Hermione considered how she'd feel if she decided to have an abortion. Would she be able to live with her decision? Would she spend every day regretting what she had done?

"_Well, however many you end up with, Miss._ _Granger, they're right little fighters to hang on after all you've been through." _

Madam Pomfrey's words floated back to her. It would be too cruel, surely, to end their lives after they'd managed to hold on throughout her traumatic ordeal at the hands of Voldemort and his followers.

At the thought of Voldemort, she shuddered. Surely there'd been enough death over the last few years. Hermione couldn't bring herself to be responsible for anymore, no matter how little time they'd been alive.

She let out a deep breath. So, she was going to go through with the pregnancy. She could not believe it. Pregnant at eighteen. What would her parents have said? She hoped they'd have been understanding.

"Do you want me to go and get Draco?" Ginny suggested, breaking Hermione out of her thoughts.

"What? No, no I can't do this to him" she said slowly. It was suddenly becoming clear to her. Just because she was committed to going through this pregnancy then that didn't mean that Draco had to as well…

"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked, "Draco needs to know that you're pregnant; they're his babies too!"

"He doesn't need this," Hermione explained, indicating herself. "His life is only just getting back on track- with Voldemort gone and, wait, what's happened to Lucius?"

"He's been captured and is awaiting trial in Azkaban," Ginny informed her, frowning.

"Oh, thank Merlin," Hermione breathed. "But, exactly, now that Lucius is locked up again Draco is free to do whatever he wants with his life. He doesn't have to hide away in Grimmauld place anymore."

"Hermione," Ginny began, doubtfully but Hermione cut her off.

"No, Ginny, he's not even eighteen yet. He doesn't ever want to be a father- he told me so a few months ago!"

"But that was a few months ago! Things are different now. Back then the future was so unclear, we were all living in fear, but now, You-Know-Who's gone. It's a safer and more stable world. He may have changed his mind, especially as you've told me that he loves you!

"Hang on," Ginny said unexpectedly breaking off her train of thought. "You said he doesn't want to be a father…does that mean you're going to become a mother?"

Hermione gave a small nod. "I, I think so," she said, uncertainly.

"But, _five_ babies, Hermione. Just think of this practically! You think you'll be able to cope with one on your own, let alone five?"

"That's a worst case scenario," Hermione mumbled.

"But it's still a possibility!" Ginny pointed out.

"Ok, so obviously I haven't thought this through in detail but I know I'm not going to ruin Draco's life!"

Ginny shook her head in disbelief. "How can you do this to someone you love?" she asked.

"It's because I love him, that I need to let him go," Hermione said fiercely.

Ginny was about to reply when they both heard voices. It was Harry, Ron and Draco. Hermione glanced at Ginny fearfully before quickly whispering, "Promise me you won't tell them about this, any of them."

"Hermione," Ginny moaned but Hermione grabbed her hand.

"_Please_, Ginny. Promise me," she begged.

"Ok," the younger girl sighed and Hermione smiled before embracing her.

"Thank you," she whispered. They pulled apart as the curtains around her bed were opened and her three favourite people entered the enclosed space.

They all looked shocked to see her awake then Harry and Ron broke into identical grins, while Draco gave a small smile, the relief evident on his face.

"Thank, Merlin," cried Harry and rushed forwards, giving Hermione a tight hug.

Ron followed suit and Draco said, "It's about bloody time, Granger. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable those hospital chairs are?" Hermione forced herself to smile. She already found having Draco so close to her unbearable considering what she was going to have to do to him.

"How are you feeling?" asked Ron.

"I'm ok, my head's a bit sore but I'm fine really. What about you guys? None of you were hurt, were you?"

"Just a few minor bumps and scrapes," said Ron, "nothing serious."

"Only thanks to me, Weasley," bragged Draco, "if I hadn't come along and saved your skin from that Death Eater then you'd have been in worse condition than Granger was."

"All right," said Ron, irritably, "do you have to show off to everyone that you helped me out a little bit?"

"Of course, I do! Do you not know me at all?" Malfoy asked, feigning hurt.

"I wish I didn't," grumbled Ron.

"So what happened to you?" asked Harry, eagerly. "We were so worried when we couldn't find you by the clearing."

Hermione briefly outlined her capture and escape from Voldemort's clutches, before something struck her. "What happened to Bellatrix? Is she awaiting trial too?"

The four of them exchanged glances and Hermione felt nervous.

"Bellatrix is dead. She cracked her skull on a rock at the bottom of the hill." Harry said.

Hermione didn't quite know how to take this information. Should she be pleased that Bellatrix was dead? The world was a better place without her, that was for sure. But Hermione couldn't help but feel slightly responsible…

"I know that look, Granger." Draco warned. "Don't you bother going on guilty on us, Bellatrix got what she deserved. It was an accident, plain and simple." Hermione looked Draco in the eye- something that she had been avoiding, and saw that he spoke the truth.

"Ok," she agreed, trying to get the image of Bellatrix strangling her out of her mind. "So it's your turn now, tell me what happened. Ginny's told me nothing so far."

Hermione tried to pay attention as they all took turns explaining what had happened but she found it very hard to concentrate. Her eyes would keep drifting in Draco's direction before she would realise what she was doing and immediately stare somewhere else.

She got the gist of what they told her: after her disappearance, Harry and Ron were adamant that the sooner they attack the better. Using Snape's information they had managed to organise some sort of plan only a few hours later. Voldemort's camp had been very disorganised thanks, they found out later, to its hunt for Hermione. The Order members were able to pick off the Death Eaters easily as they were so spread out in the forest, while Harry went to face Voldemort

Harry told her that he had given himself up for death to destroy the final piece of Voldemort's soul. And then, when Voldemort had believed him dead, cast the killing curse, thereby destroying the darkest wizard of the age.

Ginny was just telling her about the search they had conducted to find her when Madam Pomfrey came along to tell her four visitors to leave. They all objected but Hermione was secretly glad when Madam Pomfrey insisted.

Harry, Ron and Ginny all hugged her goodbye, while Draco was his usual restrained self in front of others. They promised to come visit her again as soon as they could as Madam Pomfrey shooed them away, leaving Hermione to contemplate how she was going to break a heart.

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Over the next couple of days Hermione received an influx of visitors including Remus and Tonks with newborn son Teddy. To see a baby so soon after she'd found out she was pregnant was very emotional for her. The boy's hair changed non stop while Hermione held him and he held her little finger very tightly, as though telling her to be strong.

She heard more about what had happened in the final battle from Ron, Harry and Ginny. There had been very few casualties on their side thanks to the commotion in Voldemort's camp that Hermione's disappearance had caused. Unfortunately, someone who had suffered was Snape. Lucius Malfoy and a couple of other Death Eaters had cornered Snape after discovering his treachery. They had subjected him to countless uses of the Cruciatus curse and the Order had only just managed to rescue Snape before he was killed. The repeated use of the curse had affected his mind greatly. While he was not quite driven to insanity like Neville's parents were, he barely spoke anymore and jumped constantly. Any use of magic seemed to scare him and he had not touched his wand since.

This news upset Hermione greatly when she thought about how brave Snape had been to risk his life so often over the past few years. He was in the hospital tent too as the medics were still debating the best way to move him to St. Mungo's without upsetting him. He was only a few beds along from Hermione but she hadn't gotten up the courage to visit him yet.

Madame Pomfrey constantly took tests and, as promised, after two days rest Hermione had been allowed to leave. She had spent very little time with Draco while staying bedridden and every time he'd been to see her someone else had been there too.

Hermione got dressed into some normal robes and picked up her wand from her bedside table. Fred Weasley had found it in one of the rooms of the manor and had made a great deal of presenting it to her that morning. It felt nice to have it within reach again after she was certain it'd been lost in the wake of the battle.

Her hand accidentally brushed over her stomach and she paused. She hadn't felt any effects due to her pregnancy yet but she reasoned that it was still very early days. She walked out of the curtains around her bed and over to where Madam Pomfrey was seated, reading over a chart. The Healer looked up when she saw Hermione coming and smiled.

"I just wanted to say, thank you for patching me up again." Hermione said, gratefully.

"Oh, Miss Granger, don't be silly. It's my job." Madam Pomfrey replied.

"And, to thank you for your discretion about my, um, pregnancy." Hermione mumbled, blushing slightly.

The Healer looked on her kindly. "Don't worry, Miss Granger. Your secret is safe with me."

Hermione smiled.

"You know what you're doing then?" Madam Pomfrey asked and Hermione nodded.

"I think so," she responded.

"Well, make sure you visit a healer once every three weeks so that we know that everything is ok."

"I will," Hermione promised.

"Off you go then," Madam Pomfrey smiled. "Take care of yourself, Miss Granger. And stay out of trouble."

Hermione laughed. "I'll try!" she called as she made her way towards the exit. As she came level with the curtains that she knew concealed Snape, she paused. She bit her lip as she deliberated whether or not to go in. She knew that she owed it to her former professor to at least check that he was ok.

She walked up to the curtains and asked tentatively, "Professor Snape? It's Hermione Granger. Is it ok for me to come in?" There was no reply but seeing as the others had told her that he was barely speaking, she supposed that it would be ok to go in.

She pulled one of the curtains back slightly and peered cautiously inside. Snape was sitting on his bed, scribbling something down furiously in a book. He showed no sign that he had noticed her.

"Professor Snape?" she asked again. His eyes flew up to look at her and he scrambled further up the bed to get away from her. "I'm so sorry," she said quickly holding her hands out to show she meant no harm.

"Hermione…Granger," Snape muttered so quietly that for a split second she thought she'd imagined it.

"That's right, Professor," Hermione confirmed, pleased that he knew who she was.

"Hermione Granger is safe?" he asked, again in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes, thank you. I'm fine now. Madam Pomfrey made me all better."

"Severus is glad." Hermione smiled, trying not to show her concern at how different her potions Professor was. "Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy." Snape stated.

"What?" she asked but then saw that he was looking at a point above her left shoulder. She turned and saw Draco standing behind her.

"Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy," Snape repeated and Draco nodded.

"That's right, Professor," he said.

"Draco Malfoy loves Hermione Granger," Snape said matter-of-factly staring at them both in fascination.

"He most certainly does, Professor," Draco agreed, reaching out to take Hermione's hand. She jumped and tensed but decided that she could let him have this small amount of affection in the light of what she was about to do. She decided that it was time to leave before Snape asked whether she loved Draco back.

"Well, it was nice to see you, Professor." Hermione said, moving back slightly. "I'll come to visit you again soon, I promise."

"See you later, Professor," Draco said as he followed Hermione through the curtain.

"Goodbye, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy!" Snape called after them faintly.

The two of them walked out of the tent and Hermione got her first taste of fresh air in days.

"What are you doing here?" she asked Draco.

"I thought I'd meet you once you'd been discharged and…" he walked over to a small basket that was by the entrance of the tent and brought it over to her. "take you for a picnic!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise. "A picnic? That doesn't sound like Draco Malfoy's sort of thing at all."

"I know," he agreed, flashing her a grin that paused her heart. "I was very surprised as well but I considered that it might be Hermione Granger's sort of thing." He took her hand again and she walked with him into the woods, comprehending how hard this was going to be.

This was the first time that Hermione had seen the forest after the battle that had taken place. It didn't look too different to any other forest but the occasional scorch marks were tell tale signs that magic had taken place here. It was a few days since the battle and the place was pretty much deserted which was a relief to Hermione.

"It's a good thing that Snape knows your name," Draco said conversationally. "Yours, mine and Harry's are the only ones he seems to know at the moment. He didn't recognise any of the other Order members- not even McGonagall or Remus and he's known them for longer than anyone else."

"How odd," Hermione agreed. "He seemed to remember that I went missing as well."

"Yeah, he kept asking about you when you were unconscious. I think that he carried that concern through from before his ordeal. He felt guilty that he hadn't tried to make you come back to Grimmauld Place with the others."

"He wouldn't have convinced me anyway," Hermione said, dismissively.

"I don't doubt it," Draco said, smirking. "I've missed having you around to boss me about, you know? You gave the fright of my life when you disappeared. I thought you were dead for sure."

Hermione swallowed, guiltily and was about to respond when his mood suddenly lifted again.

"Ah well," he said cheerfully, "there's no point in dwelling on what might've been; we should just be glad at what we've got in the here and now. I mean, we've got the whole world ahead of us now! We can do whatever we want without that stupid war in the way!"

He sounded so free and happy that Hermione was convinced she was doing the right thing in not burdening him with fatherhood. He was so happy to be with her that he hadn't noticed that she'd barely said word.

The two of them emerged into a small clearing, not dissimilar to the one Harry, Ron and Hermione had staked out. Draco pulled a blanket out from the basket and lay it down on the grass.

Hermione frowned. The longer she went on pretending that everything was ok, the harder it would be to end this.

"What's the matter?" Draco asked, concernedly, noticing her look of distaste. "Would you rather eat somewhere else?"

"No, no it's not that," she sighed. She steeled herself for what needed to be done. This was harder than facing up to Voldemort.

"Draco, we need to talk." She breathed heavily.

He raised an eyebrow. "Talk? What about?"

"I…we…," she began, struggling to come up with the right words. "I can't do this."

"You can't have a picnic? What are you on about, Granger?" he asked, completely baffled about what she was trying to say.

"I can't do _us_," she said indicating Draco and herself. All signs of amusement disappeared from his face. His body was tensed and Hermione could already feel her heart cracking.

"I can't be with you anymore," she whispered.

He stared at her for what felt like an eternity and she could've sworn she'd stopped breathing. He turned suddenly and walked away for a few strides, his hands reaching up to run through his hair. Then he turned back to her once more and fixed her with an accusing gaze, "You don't mean that," he said.

"Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger will _never_ work." She said, dejectedly. "Our lives are too complicated, there's too much that stands between us-"

"That's bullshit!" Draco cried, angrily. "We can get past anything that we want to."

"I want to close a chapter on the war and everything that took place during it. I need to get over what happened, Draco. I need space to deal with what I've been through." She explained, as calmly as she could.

"You're just shaken up because of what's happened over the last few days," Draco argued. "You'll feel differently in time, I know it."

Hermione shook her head forlornly. "My feelings are never going to change."

"But all that stuff you said last week; about the things you'll never get to see, the life you were scared you weren't going to live. We can do it together!" he said, imploring her to listen to him.

"I want to be on my own, Draco. I need to re-evaluate my life."

He shook his head, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered and turned to leave.

"No, Hermione, wait!" He ran after her and grabbed her wrist, turning her around to face him. "I love you," he said, with more emotion in his voice than Hermione had ever heard in her life. "You said you loved me!" The hurt was written all over his face and Hermione let a couple of tears fall from her eyes at the pain she was causing them both.

"I don't love you, Draco," she whispered while inside, her heart screamed the opposite. "But if you love me, then you can let me go." _Just like I am doing for you_, she added mentally.

"I'll never forget what we had," she sighed, tenderly, stroking his face. "Goodbye, Draco." She kissed his cheek and removed her wrist from his grip before turning into the woods and walking out of his life.

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A/N Awwww poor Draco! I'm sure some of you will be very pleased to hear that this is the end of the past chapters. You're all up-to-date in what happened between Hermione and Draco before chapter 1 of New Dawn!

I know you guys are going to be sooo excited about the next chapter because it's the one you've all been waiting for. Just give me a couple of weeks before I get started on it because I swear that over the past month 75% of my spare time has been taken up by me staring at the screen of my laptop, waiting for the words to come!

You can follow my progress on my new livejournal page! I'll post a link in my bio page. I only have 1 friend at the moment (which is my sister!) so I'd be more than happy to friend you guys back! That'll make it all the easier for you guys to bother me to update!

Aaaanyway. Until next time (which I'm very much looking forward to!),

Lil Drop of Magic!


	11. The Truth Comes Out

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Hi guys! I know you're mad at me for not updating in AGES but hopefully this will make you forgive me!

Lots of love to bcain17, ONIX-21, LightningRose, spikeecat, MeIp, lacking a better name, MalfoysPinay, MaskOfComedy, Gandalf the Grey-Edelwiess, caseyjarryn, WitchAllonby, james-louise, shaan lee, Riah, The Queen of Confusion, Hermione09Weasley, Katz Potter, sarahyyy, Avanell, vampirexmistress or Miss V, ., blackXroseXpianno93, miffy, fallingstar93, Dra_mione, HopeInHell and x0xoTheRosesx0xo for their reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world.

Chapter 11- The Truth Comes Out

Draco stared at the little girl, his mind reeling in shock at the sight before him. '_No, it can't be, this cannot be happening.' _He thought. But the girl looked so much like a Malfoy with her pale blonde hair and slightly pointed nose…

"Who is that child?" he asked, his voice shaking with fear, disbelief and anger.

Granger mouthed wordlessly, struggling to come up with words before they were interrupted.

"Mummy!" cried another little girl as she ran towards them, a small boy in her wake. "Mummy did you see us go down the slide?"

Draco staggered back in shock. There were three of them. He looked at Granger incredulously.

"They're all mine?" he asked hoarsely. There was a moment's hesitation and then she nodded. Draco turned away, unable to take the sight of them.

"Draco, _please, _I can explain!" Granger cried and he turned furious eyes on her. "I was going to tell you, I promise!"

"What, when _I_ was on my death bed?" he spat.

"No, after the trial."

"Well, that makes it all right then!" he scoffed, still livid.

"Draco, I know you're shocked and angry-"

"You have no idea how I'm feeling!" he yelled.

"-But can we please not talk about this here, in front of the children." Granger pleaded.

Draco looked at his children. _His_ children. That sounded so wrong. But he could clearly see that they were scared of him. The two kids on the ground were peering up at him fearfully, from behind their mother's coat while the child in Granger's arms was clinging on desperately to her. He hadn't known his children for more than two minutes and they were already scared of him. It was as he'd always feared.

He tried to cool his temper. "What do you suggest then, Granger?" he asked through gritted teeth. "I am not leaving until I get some answers."

Granger bit her lip as she pondered what they should do. "Remus and Tonks live around the corner; I can ask her to watch over them while we talk. It's not fair to you or the kids to have this discussion here in the park like this."

"How considerate of you to suddenly be concerned with what's _fair_ for me." Draco snapped.

"We're just going to go back to see Tonks and Teddy for a little bit," Granger informed the children, ignoring his jibe. "We've been playing so long we've missed our bus!" She was trying to sound light hearted so that the kids wouldn't think that anything was wrong.

"Do you, er, want me to hold onto one of them?" Draco asked, awkwardly as they started through the park, back towards the Lupins'. He considered that they must look rather odd: him walking on his own and Granger with one daughter clutching around her neck and the other two children grasping onto her coat as they walked. She considered this for a moment and Draco had the distinct impression she was trying to think of a reason to refuse him.

"Ok," she eventually agreed. "Here you go," she said, passing the blonde girl over to him. Draco was not expecting her to deposit a child in his arms and he struggled for a moment to hold her in a way that was comfortable for both of them. His experiences of dealing with small children were extremely limited.

He looked down and saw his daughter staring back up at him and his breath caught in his throat. He could feel her breath on his neck and through all their layers of clothing he could feel her pulse beating steadily. This situation was just too surreal for him and he tore his eyes away from the smaller brown ones, so similar to Granger's.

As he followed Granger and the two other children, Draco could feel that his own heart was racing and he took a few deep breaths to try and steady it. The trip to the Lupin's house went quickly and silently as each adult was lost in their own thoughts. The children could obviously sense that something was wrong for they too said nothing as they retraced their steps.

"Remus and Tonks live just here," Granger muttered as they walked up the path to a picturesque terraced house. She knocked briskly on the door and they resumed their silence as they waited for someone to answer. A few seconds later they could hear footsteps approaching before Tonks opened the door with a cheery disposition. The smile immediately dropped from her face as she took in the sight on her doorstep.

"Tonks, would you mind watching the kids while Draco and I have a talk," Granger said, getting straight to the point.

"Um, Sure," Tonks replied, still not quite believing what she was seeing. "Come on you three, let's go find Teddy." Draco deposited his little girl safely on the floor and watched as his three children toddled after his brightly-haired cousin.

"Let's go into the lounge," Granger said, avoiding his eye. He followed her into a large, cosy room with a number of squishy armchairs. She walked over to the fire place and then turned to face him, wrapping her arms around herself. She looked very scared but Draco felt no pity for her.

"Spill," he said in a low, dangerous voice. Now that it was just him and Granger he felt no need to keep up that calm façade.

"Draco, please," she began, her voice wavering. "I know that I can never make up for what I've done to you but I honestly believed that I was doing the best thing for you."

"What?" he asked incredulously. "How could you possibly have thought that I wouldn't want to know about my children?"

"The war was only just over; the world was open for you to do whatever you wanted with it. I didn't want to burden you with a child."

"You had no right to make that decision for me!" Draco yelled.

"I didn't tell you because I loved you!" Granger cried. "I wanted what was best for you and becoming a father at 17 was not it."

"Maybe that's exactly what _I_ wanted." He said passionately, "Maybe I wanted to be with you forever, handling whatever life could throw at us."

He saw her bite her lip and as though to protect herself against the implication of those words.

"You left me so alone." He continued in a quieter voice. "You were the only person in the world I could bear to be around and then you stamped all over my heart and left me completely and utterly alone."

"I don't know what to say," Granger whispered.

"You could start with an apology," Draco said, his temper rising again. Granger bit her lip and Draco gasped in shock. "You're not sorry?" he asked incredulously.

Granger made a noise that Draco was unable to interpret and he ran his hands through his hair in disbelief.

"My body had been through a lot." She said timidly. "It's amazing that the pregnancy held through all my injuries."

Through his anger he tried to figure out where she was headed with this and then suddenly it clicked. "You thought I'd make you terminate the pregnancy?"

"It was a possibility," she nodded, her eyes becoming glassy with unshed tears. "They'd managed to cling on after all I'd been through, and so many people had died…"

"What makes you think that I would make you-"

"You said you didn't want to be a father. You, you swore the Malfoy bloodline would die with you." She stammered.

"What?" Draco asked in confusion wracking his brain for when he might have said that. Then suddenly he remembered. "After Gringotts." He whispered.

Granger nodded, mutely.

"But I was drunk," he protested.

"Sometimes people are their most truthful when they've consumed alcohol." She pointed out, refusing to back down. "Can you honestly say that you would've been pleased if I'd told you I was pregnant?"

"Well, I don't know if pleased is the word I'd use…" Draco mumbled. "But I wouldn't have forced you to do anything you didn't want to. I can't believe you thought I'd do that to you!" He shook his head. "So that's what you thought me capable of, huh? You thought I'd manipulate you to suit my own design no matter if it meant killing my own children?"

"No, Draco, that's not it at all!" Granger cried.

"You thought, 'he's a Malfoy'. He's going to be a curse upon his kids and they in turn will learn to loathe him."

Tears were running down Granger's face but Draco couldn't bring himself to care.

"You were ashamed of me!" Draco roared.

"No!" she sobbed as the door was thrown open and an annoyed looking Tonks strode in. Granger quickly wiped away her tears and they both tried to compose themselves.

"Look, guys. I know that you really have to have this talk but I think you should have a time out; you need to get your emotions sorted and your head cleared. Plus, the kids know something's not right."

"I want answers," Draco said impatiently.

"You think I'm going to run off and never talk to you again?" Granger muttered.

"Wouldn't be the first time," he shot back at her.

"Why don't you meet up tomorrow while everyone's at the Quidditch match?" suggested Tonks. "The kids won't be with you because they'll be at the game."

"I suppose that's probably the best time," Granger agreed, sighing.

"It's fine with me," stated Draco. He had initially planned to go to the match but Quidditch had suddenly paled in comparison to the revelation that he had three children.

"Do you still want to stay here for dinner?" Tonks asked him and he shrugged his shoulders.

"I've got no other plans," he stated.

"Wait. You knew that he was coming here?" Granger asked Tonks in shock.

"I invited Draco over for dinner with Remus and I. He is family after all," she replied sheepishly.

"And you didn't think to warn me?" Granger enquired, exasperated.

"Well, Draco wasn't supposed to be here 'til later. I honestly didn't think you'd run into each other." Tonks explained.

"Don't blame Tonks for me finding out about the kids." Draco growled. "If it wasn't for her invitation then I'd probably never have known they existed."

Granger made to protest but Tonks cut her off. "Don't go getting each other wound up again. This is going to be difficult enough without you two sniping at each other. Let's just decide a time and a place for tomorrow."

"We can meet at mine, if you want," said Granger, still frowning. "Is 3 o'clock ok?"

"Fine," Draco replied. Granger gave him brief directions to her flat before announcing that she'd better get the kids home.

"Do you mind if I use your Floo," she asked Tonks. "It's getting a bit late."

"Yeah, of course," the older witch replied. "Draco, can you watch Teddy while we take the triplets home?"

Draco nodded before following the two women out of the lounge and into another room with brightly coloured walls. He could see his three children, still with their coats on, sitting on a long couch while another boy was standing in front of them with his face screwed up in concentration. Suddenly, his blue hair turned neon green and the children all giggled.

"Right, guys, it's time for us to go home now." Granger said to the triplets, her voice completely composed once again.

"Are we getting the bus?" asked the little blonde child and Draco's heart skipped a beat; it was the first time he'd heard her voice.

"No, Sweetie. We're going to go by floo because it's getting a bit late."

"Oh," sighed the other girl. "But it was my turn to press the bell!" Draco felt his insides wriggle as he remembered how he had liked to press the bell when he and Granger had gone to the cinema.

"You can do the bell next week," Granger reasoned. "Come on, up you get." The triplets got to their feet, giving Draco curious glances. "I'll see you tomorrow," Granger muttered at him before departing with his children.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, Teddy, ok?" Tonks called to her son.

"Ok, Mummy." The boy replied, staring at Draco, avidly. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Draco took a seat on the couch and cast around for something to say.

"So, you're a metamorphmagus like your mum?" he finally asked.

"A meta-what?" Teddy asked, clearly confused.

"You can change how you look," Draco explained.

"Oh," the boy realised and his face cracked into a big grin. "Yep! Do you wanna see some more?"

"Ok."

The little boy stared at Draco for a while and then screwed up his face like before. Then, in the blink of an eye, Draco found himself looking at a miniature version of himself- with blond hair, grey eyes and pointed nose.

"Wow," said Draco, deeply impressed. "That's incredible."

Teddy laughed and briefly closed his eyes before turning back into himself. "What's your name?" he asked, as he clambered onto the couch next to Draco.

"Draco Malfoy."

"Mine's Teddy Lupin." He replied.

"I know," said Draco, "I've seen you once before, when you were only a couple of days old."

"Really?"

"Yep. You were a lot smaller then and your hair wouldn't stop changing!" Teddy laughed and Draco smiled.

"How do you know Mummy and Daddy?" the little boy asked.

"Your Mummy is my cousin and your Daddy used to teach me at school."

"Oh, how come I've never seen you before?" Teddy enquired, shuffling up the couch closer to him.

"I've been living quite far away. This is the first time I've been back to England in nearly four years." Draco explained.

"I'm nearly four!" Teddy exclaimed. "It's my birthday in two months."

"It's still a while away yet, Teddy," said Tonks as she came back into the room.

"No it's not!" he cried, jumping into his mother's arms and she kissed his head.

"Remus should be home soon," she told Draco. "Let's go in the kitchen while I get dinner ready. "We'll talk about what's happened after Teddy's gone to bed," she added in an undertone.

Draco nodded mutely and followed her into the kitchen, taking a seat at the breakfast bar.

"Draco said he saw me when I was a baby," Teddy informed his mother.

"He did," Tonks agreed as she placed her son on the floor and got some food out of a cupboard, "When you were only a couple of days old."

"Where did he see me?" Teddy inquired.

"It was in the middle of a forest," Draco said. "You were so tiny that your Mum and Dad couldn't travel by floo or apparation in case you got hurt. Your grandfather had to drive the three of you down to meet everyone."

"But why were you in a forest?" Teddy asked in confusion.

"Um," said Draco, looking at Tonks for guidance in what to say.

"It's a _long _story, Teddy," she sighed. "But I promise I'll tell it to you one day."

"Ok," grinned the little boy and he immediately dropped the subject for something that Draco found even more uncomfortable. "Why were you and 'Mione shouting?"

"Um," said Draco again before Tonks admonished her son.

"Teddy! That is absolutely none of your business! Don't be so cheeky! Say you're sorry to Draco."

The boy bowed his head and scuffed his shoe against the floor. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"That's alright," Draco replied, slightly amused at seeing his cousin try to be a disciplinarian.

"So, how come you were on your way here so early? I wasn't expecting you for another hour." Tonks enquired as she charmed the potatoes to start peeling themselves. Teddy watched, fascinated.

"I just thought I'd have a look round the park that you mentioned in your directions." He explained. "My days aren't particularly busy at the moment waiting around for the trial." He saw Tonks tense at his mention of his bid to get Lucius released. "You don't agree with what I'm doing?" he asked cautiously.

"It makes no difference what I think." She said, matter-of-factly.

"You're family." He stated. "I would value your opinion on the subject. You know what it's like to have a dark ancestry hanging over you."

"Our childhoods were very different, Draco. I was never really aware of my mother's side of the family as she'd turned her back on them when she married my father." Draco shrugged his shoulders, acknowledging that this was true. "But saying that," continued Tonks, "I do wish you had consulted some friends before you decided to go ahead with this release thing. I, personally, do not understand what you are trying to achieve. But-" she quickly added before he could speak, "I know that you must have your own reasons and they're probably more complicated than most people can comprehend."

"Thank you," Draco said warmly. "It's…difficult to explain. For the last few years I've felt like I'm constantly angry and unsettled within myself and I thought that maybe this would help in some way. I never wanted to hurt anyone, least of all-"

He was cut off by the sound of the front door opening and he was relieved at the timing because he had just been about to mention Granger. He had managed to put her and the children to the back of his mind while talking to Tonks but now it all returned in a flash of rage. He clenched his fists and tried not to let the others know what was going on within his mind.

Remus appeared in the kitchen and Draco schooled his features into something that looked a lot more pleasant than what he was feeling.

"Draco," Remus smiled in greeting and held out his hand. "It's good to see you again. I trust you're well?"

Draco took the proffered hand and shook it firmly. "As can be expected, thank you, Remus."

A sudden blur turned out to be Teddy launching himself at his father. Remus caught him just in time and hoisted the boy up against his chest. "And what about you, my boy? Have you had a good day?"

"Yep!" his son announced.

Remus deposited Teddy on the side before giving his wife a kiss on the cheek. "Everything ok?" he asked her. Tonks nodded before stealing a glance at Draco.

"Draco ran into Hermione and the children in the park on his way here." Tonks said simply.

Remus looked at Draco in concern. "Ah, I take it you know-"

"Yes." Draco replied shortly.

"I suggested we talk it over once a certain someone has gone to bed." Tonks informed her husband.

"Yes," Remus frowned, "I think that's probably for the best."

The next couple of hours passed rather uncomfortably for the adults; Draco, because his mind was too occupied with the revelation that he was a father to three children while Remus and Tonks were concerned for the two young adults that were no doubt about to go through a very difficult time.

Once Teddy was safely tucked up in bed the adults convened in the lounge, the same room that Draco and Granger had argued in earlier.

"I'm sorry you've had to keep your emotions bottled up for the last few hours." Tonks said, passing him a mug of coffee. "We'll try and calm you down as much as possible before your meeting with Hermione tomorrow. So, how are you feeling?"

"Pretty pissed off to be honest," he admitted, clutching the mug slightly tighter than was necessary.

"It's perfectly understandable," commented Remus.

"I would never have thought her possible of doing something like this. I can't believe that my kids have been walking on this planet for three years and I've known nothing of it! Who gave her right to decide whether or not I should know about my kids? I just don't understand why she did it!"

"To protect you," prompted Tonks, which made Draco scoff. "I can't comment on whether what Hermione did was wrong or right- it's too late to change that, but I do know that what she did, she did because she thought it best for you. Her heart was in the right place."

Draco didn't really want to hear any defence of Granger's actions. He just wanted his three and a half years back. "Maybe…maybe I should fight to get them for myself."

The Lupins gave each other shocked looks. "I don't think that the wisest choice, Draco," said Remus. "She's the best worker the Office of Magical Law has ever had. That case would be over in a blink of an eye and be a complete waste of time."

Draco frowned.

"You think you'd be able to cope as a full time father to triplets?" asked Tonks, unable to keep a look of amusement out of her expression.

"It can't be that hard," he replied.

Draco's frown deepened as the Lupins burst into laughter.

"Merlin, Draco, we can barely manage with _one_ kid and there are _two_ of us!" chuckled Remus.

"And I don't think the kids would particularly thank you for separating them from their mother. They're very close to her." Tonks pointed out.

"But I don't think you have anything to worry about as far as seeing the children is concerned, Draco. Hermione will probably be fair and let you be involved with them a lot."

"She didn't tell me because she thought I'd make her terminate the pregnancy so the odds of her letting me help take care of the kids are pretty slim if you ask me." He said bitterly.

"She told you that?" asked Remus in shock. "I doubt that was the main reason for her not telling you."

"It was one of the reasons." Draco admitted. "But it's rather telling of what she thinks of me."

"Oh, I don't think that's true." Remus said. "She would've been in a very troubled place when she found out about the pregnancy. I doubt she was in a particularly rational state of mind."

"It doesn't change the fact that she thought I'd make her abort the babies."

"So you wouldn't have wanted to end it?" enquired Tonks.

"Of course not! I loved her- I would've done anything for her. If she'd told me then that we'd have had something to keep us together forever, a child, I would've been shocked but happy because that's what I wanted. I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. She was the only person I could see myself having a future with." His chest heaved after this exclamation and he averted his eyes from the couple, embarrassed by his proclamation of past love. He took a sip of coffee to pass the uncomfortable silence.

"So it's definitely all in the past tense?" asked Tonks. "'She _was_ the only person,' 'I _loved_ her,' 'I _wanted_ to be with her.' You don't feel the same way?"

"Of course not!" he cried, believing it to be true.

"As far as I can see, the only reason that you two aren't still together is because Hermione didn't want you to know about the babies." She pointed out. "Now that you know, what's there to stop you from being together?"

"What?! After how she's screwed up my life? I'll never be able to forgive her. _Ever_."

"But…" began Tonks but Remus put a hand on her shoulder.

"Leave it, Dora. Draco's got enough on his mind for now." Tonks sighed but nodded her head. Draco was thankful to him. Right now, he was too angry at Granger to consider the possibility of ever getting back together with her.

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Hermione yawned and rubbed her eyes. If she'd thought her nights earlier in the week had been restless then last night had been a million times worse. She peered down at the piece of parchment she had been working on. There were only two sentences on it. She screwed the parchment up in frustration and hurled it across the room before putting her head in her hands. A couple of tears leaked out before she could stop them and she swiped them away angrily.

She went to the kitchen and turned the kettle on before checking the clock. It was five minutes to three. He'd be here soon.

The flat was empty apart from herself. The others had left well over an hour ago for the match. She was sure that Harry and Ron knew something was wrong but they had been wise enough to not enquire what it was.

She stared at her warped reflection in the metal of the kettle. She was not looking her best. The bags under her eyes were huge and her hair was particularly unruly thanks to the number of times she had run her fingers through it.

The kettle whistled to let her know it was ready. She mixed the hot water with coffee granules in her favourite mug which the children had painted for her. Coffee was not her favourite drink but she knew that she'd need the energy it would give her to get through this meeting with Draco.

She had barely taken a couple of sips when the doorbell rang. She took a deep breath and tried to steady her nerves as she walked to the door. Upon opening it she saw a rather angry Draco Malfoy looking back at her with his arms crossed.

"Come in," she said quietly and held the door aside for him to pass through. "Do you want a drink? The kettle's only just boiled."

"Forget the formalities, Granger. Let's just get this over with." He said, harshly.

"Ok," she said, shutting the door. "Um, follow me." She led the way to the lounge and perched on the end of one of the sofas. Draco sat down too.

"I just want to explain my feelings when I found out that I was pregnant." She began. "I had only just come round after what happened in the forest. To be honest, I was pretty amazed to be alive and still in shock over what had happened. I'd been told Voldemort was dead only a couple of minutes before and I was over the moon that we were all free to live our lives as we wanted to." She paused to examine his facial expression. It was completely devoid of any emotion. She was not sure whether this was good or bad.

"I knew that there was this whole new world out there for you now that Voldemort was gone and Lucius was awaiting trial. I didn't want to tie you down after you'd only just become free. You have to believe me when I say that I honestly thought that I was doing what was best for you."

"Would you do things differently now?" he asked.

She considered this. "Judging by what you said yesterday… I would tell you about the pregnancy if I had my time again." He seemed to relax a little. "I'm, I'm so sorry, Draco."

"Thank you," he answered. "I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to forgive you, but your apology has helped."

She also relaxed a little and rubbed the back of her neck to relieve an ache.

"So, all the old Order lot know that I have three children with you?" he asked.

"Um, no." said Hermione, looking at the floor. "The only one who knew was Ginny. She was there when Madame Pomfrey told me. Remus and Tonks figured it out on their own. I only found out that they knew a couple of days ago."

"So what did everyone else believe?" he asked, confusion showing on his face.

"I told them that I'd run into some childhood friends when I'd gone to lay some flowers down at my old house, the day after I was released from the medical tent. I said that they'd invited me to go for a night out with them because they'd recently finished their exams. I snuck into Ginny's room in the Burrow when I said I was out with them. I invented a relationship with a male friend of theirs that eventually petered out. They had no reason to suspect that I lied."

"So you'd rather have people think that you'd slept with a random muggle than with a Malfoy, is that it?" Draco asked, the anger in his voice obvious.

"No, it's just-"

"So you _were_ ashamed of me then? All this 'it was best for you' business has been because you were too ashamed to admit that you'd been with a Slytherin, a former Death Eater, a Malfoy!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Draco! If I'd told everyone then it would ruin the whole point of me not burdening you with the knowledge. Someone would have surely let it slip to you."

"Why should I believe you?" he scoffed.

"BECAUSE I LOVED YOU!" she yelled, standing up. "All of this, everything I did back then was because I loved you. I didn't do it to be selfish- believe me, things would probably have been a lot easier for me if I'd involved you from the start."

"I didn't ask you to do any of it. Any unhappiness you've suffered has been brought upon by yourself." Draco snapped, also standing up. "I'm just glad that I ran into you in the park otherwise I'd miss even more of my kids' lives."

"I was going to tell you after the trial," Hermione sighed.

"And I'm supposed to believe that too? Why should you suddenly decide to tell me after three years? Hang on…" He paused and his brow creased in thought. "That day when I knocked you over. You didn't know that you were going to be working on my father's case. You had no idea that you'd ever see me again. You were happy to walk out of my life, again leaving me no idea that I had three children. That's what all that panic was about, wasn't it? You weren't worried about some stupid papers; you were worried that I'd somehow find out about the kids!" His anger had returned in full force and Hermione found that she had no words to defend herself with.

"So, tell me. What miraculous intercession had convinced you to let me in on your secret?" He asked, contemptuously.

"Remus and Tonks said -" Hermione began in a small voice but Draco's laughter cut her off.

"I don't believe it! You weren't ever going to tell me, were you?"

"I…" she started but blushed and said no more.

"Everything you've been saying, it's just bullshit isn't it? You're not really sorry that you didn't tell me; you're just sorry you got caught!"

"No! That's not true!" Hermione cried, the tears running down her cheeks.

"You make me sick!" he snarled, his face showing pure hatred.

Hermione turned away, unable to bear to see that look on his face, when to her horror she saw Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George and the kids all standing in the doorway to the lounge. She gasped, the noise making Draco turn his head and notice the others as well. She and Draco must have been arguing so loud that they didn't hear the front door open!

They all looked rather shocked and Hermione tried to remember how to speak English.

"What are you doing here?" she finally managed to say a little breathlessly.

"Brentley caught the snitch after about three minutes." Harry said, shortly, shooting Draco suspicious glances. "The kids wanted to come back to see you."

"We won, Mummy!" Seren cried, running forward to show off her red and white rosette, representing the colours of England.

"That's great, sweetie," Hermione replied, forcing her voice to try and sound normal. She glanced nervously at Draco and saw that he had gone very rigid. "Ginny, could you take the kids up to their room and read them a couple of stories?" she asked.

Ginny looked like she had figured out what was going on and was biting her lip but she nodded nonetheless. "Sure, come on guys. Why don't you each pick out a story for me?"

"You can read mine first!" Elysia shouted back to Ginny as she ran off to their room, Seren and Cato following in her wake. Ginny gave Hermione a last worried look and went off down the corridor.

"What the hell makes you think you can talk to Hermione like that?" Ron demanded of Malfoy.

"Ron, don't," Hermione said, hoping to avoid a confrontation.

"No, he's right, 'Mione," Harry piped up. "You've been forced to take on his ridiculous case and revisit a lot of painful memories. He should be bending over backwards to help you."

"Stay out of it, Potter. This is none of your business." Draco spat.

"Well, maybe we're _making_ it our business," said Fred, moving further into the room and glaring daggers at the blond man.

Draco laughed coldly. "All right then. Maybe I should tell them, Granger. Then they'd know what a cold hearted liar you are."

"You watch your mouth, Malfoy." Ron shouted, while Hermione whispered,

"No, Draco, please, let me tell them."

He laughed coldly again. "You've had three and a half years to tell them, Granger. I think they deserve to know the truth."

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Harry asked, his voice raised in frustration.

"NO!" Hermione cried, clutching at Draco's arm but he shrugged her off.

"THOSE KIDS ARE MINE!"

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A/N Another little cliffie for you there but it's not quite as evil as before. I seriously don't expect you're gonna have to wait half as long for another update. Uni's got a little busy and stressful recently but I've only got another 6 weeks of it and then it's SUMMER! Yay!

Anyho, I hope you guys have a lovely Easter!

Don't forget to let me know what you think!

Lots of Love,

Lil Drop of Magic


	12. A Trying Time

A/N Hey guys! I haven't really got anything to say til the end of the chapter so let's get on with it!

Lots of love to fallingstar93, Avanell, spikeecat, ImmortalSoull, Noon's Phoenix, ONIX-21, fenrir'.girl, Kandygurl4, Beautifulveela17, hgdm07, Jaynie, lacking a better name, ctc, Nangini, The Queen of Confusion, dragon087, Rebecca, caseyjarryn, miffy and BloodredEmeralds for their reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world.

Chapter 12- A Trying Time

Silence. Hermione could hear nothing after Draco's announcement apart from the sound of her own breathing and the rapid thumping of her heartbeat. She closed her eyes as though she could pretend the revelation had never been made.

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" asked one of the twins and the whole room seemed to rush back into her senses as she opened her eyes.

"I'm the father of the triplets," Draco said, more calmly this time.

"What? Don't be ridiculous," said Ron. "As if Hermione and you would ever…" he trailed off, his ears going red.

She could feel the burn of Harry and the twins' eyes on her.

"Hermione, could you please set this blond prat straight so we can toss him out?" asked Ron.

"Yes, Granger, let's hear the truth." Draco said, smirking at her.

The whole room was now looking at her and she found it extremely difficult to breathe. She felt sick to her stomach and her knees felt like they could give way any moment.

"Hermione?" Harry asked, uncertainly.

She closed her eyes again. Maybe it would be easier to say it to a seemingly empty room. It helped, a little. "Draco's the father," she whispered, nearly choking on the words.

She opened her eyes to survey the damage. Draco was looking triumphant, the twins confused, Harry hurt and Ron shocked.

"You…and Malfoy?" Harry asked, unable to believe what he was hearing.

Hermione nodded, incapable of saying anything further.

"Where the hell have you been for the last 3 and a half years, you piece of ferret shit?" asked Fred, looking angrily at Draco.

"Scarper as soon as she told you, did you?" spat George.

"Do you have any idea how difficult it's been for these three to bring up _your_ kids?" Fred continued.

"I only found out yesterday that I _had_ any kids. The mudblood neglected to tell me when she sent me packing."

"Bastard!" shouted Ron as he pulled his fist back then slammed it into Draco's face. The others started forward with livid expressions and Hermione knew she had to stop this before Draco ended up in St. Mungo's.

"Stop it!" she cried. "Stop right there or I'll stun you all!"

They all obeyed, still glaring at Draco. Ron was breathing heavily and Draco was trying not to look in too much pain as the area around his left eye showed red.

"Draco, I think you'd better leave." She said shortly. "I'll see you on Monday morning for the trial."

He gave her a last contemptuous look and left the room, childishly knocking his shoulder against Ron on his way out. The red head glared after him and they all heard the front door slam shut.

"I suppose we'd better go too," said Fred, giving Hermione a calculating look.

"Yeah, catch you later guys." George muttered as he left the room.

The others gave no reply.

"Did he force himself on you, Hermione?" Ron asked, gruffly. "It's ok, you can tell us if he did, we won't let him hurt you."

Hermione nearly let out a hysterical laugh in surprise. How typical of Ron to think that the only way she would ever conceive a child with Draco Malfoy was if he'd forced her. "No, Ron. He didn't force himself on me."

Ron frowned, while Harry still stared at Hermione with an unreadable expression.

"A love potion, then?" Ron continued in this deluded way. "He tricked-"

"Ron don't be thick," Harry snapped suddenly, without taking his eyes off her. "She slept with him of her own accord."

Hermione made to say something but she could find no words and so closed her mouth again.

Ron scoffed. "No, this is _Malfoy_ we're talking about. Now I know he improved a little bit when we were in Grimmauld Place but Hermione wouldn't touch that Slytherin twat with a quidditch hoop. She's got way more sense than that."

"Ron, stop it!" Hermione cried, at the end of her tether. "You don't know what you're talking about!" Her resolve crumbled and she fell to her knees as the tears poured out of her eyes. She covered her face as her body was wracked with sobs.

"You…and Malfoy?" she somehow managed to hear above her crying. She looked blearily in Ron's direction and could tell instantly from the tone in his voice and his body language that he was furious.

"Ron," Harry said, warningly but the redhead paid him no attention.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he yelled. "Think of all the things he's done to us over the years!"

"You had this exact argument when he moved into Grimmauld Place and he proved himself on more than one occasion." Hermione reasoned as she managed to pull herself back onto her feet.

"This is different," Ron spat. "You let that creep touch you and stuff!"

Hermione blushed. "I'm old enough to do what I like."

"But Malfoy?" said Harry, speaking for the first time in a while. "Did it have to be him?"

"I'm sorry, Harry, I really am. I honestly tried to fight it but I couldn't." Hermione told him, her eyes pleading for him to believe her but he looked annoyed at the floor.

"So you were tricking us the whole time we were at Number 12? Bet you two thought that was a right laugh, sneaking around behind our backs, shagging in every room," Ron said, bitterly, glaring at her.

Hermione gasped and Harry looked at Ron in shock.

"It wasn't like that!" she said vehemently, the anger in her starting to rise. "You have no right to make presumptions about my relationship with Draco like that!"

"He was probably using you. You know that, right?" Ron continued.

"What?!" Hermione asked, in disbelief.

"He was probably just using you to get what he wanted."

"Ron," Hermione almost yelled, then took a deep breath. "Will you just stop it?"

"He was manipulating you," Ron carried on, not listening to her. "All Malfoys are the same. He was born that way."

Hermione's posture went rigid and her voice as cold as ice. "My children are Malfoys so be very careful what you say about them Weasley. I can't believe that you can even consider that Draco is anything like his father. Does that mean you think that Cato is going to be like Lucius?"

"Oh, Merlin!" Ron groaned as he put a hand to his forehead, "they're _Malfoys!"_

Hermione's hand went to her wand but Harry caught her wrist.

"Don't you _dare_ treat my children any different to how you used to or I will move out of this flat tomorrow and never speak to you again," Hermione spat at him.

Ginny appeared at the door looking worried. "The kids are having a nap," she said. "Is everything ok?" she asked noticing Harry holding Hermione's wrist while she glared at her brother.

"They know," Hermione said, bluntly.

"Ah, I thought they might."

Ron whipped his head round in shock and Harry looked surprised too.

"You…knew?" Ron asked.

"Ginny was there when I found out I was pregnant. Madam Pomfrey made the discovery when she was treating me in the New Forest." Hermione informed the boys.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Ron yelled.

"I swore her to secrecy," Hermione told him.

"You're my sister!" Ron carried on, ignoring her. "You should have told me. Family comes before friends!"

"What?!" Ginny choked out, before glaring up at her brother. "Ron, stop acting like a complete prat; you're being such a baby! It's time that you grew up! This is more important than some silly feud you had with Malfoy when you were in school."

"Get out," Ron snapped.

"What?" said Hermione, Harry and Ginny all at once.

"Get out of this flat," he said moving towards her.

"No!" exclaimed Ginny, "I want to make sure Hermione's ok." But Ron carried on and picked his sister up and took her out of the room. "Ron!" she squealed and started pummelling his arms and chest.

Harry and Hermione just watched with open mouths as the siblings disappeared from the room and heard the door slam shut.

"What's the matter with you?" Hermione screamed at him as he re-entered the room. "Ginny's right, you need to grow up, Ron."

The redhead glared at her then looked to Harry for support but it was obvious he was going to get none there.

"_Fine._" He snapped and flounced off to his room, slamming his door shut.

Hermione shook her head in astonishment before remembering that Harry was in the room too. She glanced at him and saw that he was staring at the floor once more.

"Harry," she said, quietly, "please say something to me."

"Did you love him?" he asked, not changing his gaze.

She nodded. "We weren't going to go anywhere with our feelings 'til after the war was done but one night we just got caught up in it. It was only once, the night we found Voldemort's camp."

"Why didn't you tell him?"

"I didn't want to burden him with fatherhood after he'd just become free."

"But you'd burden us?" Harry asked, finally looking up at her, his brows creased.

"I told you I didn't want to but you and Ron were fairly adamant about it," she said, attempting a smile but she found her facial muscles had temporarily forgotten how to.

"You could have told me." He said. "Ron and I are your best friends, you could have told us."

"I was too scared," she breathed. She reached a hand out to him but he looked away again. Hermione let her hand fall limply to her side and her composure crumpled in despair.

"I…I need to be on my own for a bit." Harry whispered as he walked towards the door.

"Are you ever going to forgive me?" Hermione called out to him as the tears trickled down her cheeks.

"Just give me a couple of days." He replied, looking sorrowfully at her.

She blinked and he was gone. She was completely and utterly alone. She took a few deep breaths and wiped away her tears. No, she wasn't completely alone. She walked quietly to the triplet's room and silently opened the door. They were running around the room with little toy broomsticks between their legs, making whooshing noises.

"You're supposed to be asleep!" Hermione exclaimed, pretending to be cross.

"Mummy!" the girls cried and the three came running towards her.

"Mummy can we have a snit to chase?" asked Elysia. Hermione frowned. _A snit?_

"Oh, you want a snitch?" she asked. They nodded eagerly. She walked over to their toy cupboard and cast a silent _accio_ so that a closed snitch flew into her palm.

"Ok, guys, get ready." The triplets followed Hermione excitedly as she stood in the middle of the room. They each put a foot over their brooms, looking as though they were actually ready to take off. She tapped the snitch with her wand and it zoomed off to hide somewhere in the room. It moved slower than a real one but the kids had plenty of fun charging after it until Cato finally pounced on it. Hermione cheered and clapped her hands. "Do you want another go?" she asked them.

"Yeah!" the girls cried so Hermione let the snitch go again. She sunk down onto the floor, suddenly feeling exhausted. She conjured a load of cushions to appear next to her and flung herself onto them as she yawned. Cato clambered over next to her.

"You don't want to chase the snitch?" she asked him sleepily.

The little boy shook his head before laying his head on the top of her chest. She lifted her head up slightly to give him a kiss. "Ok, sweetheart, you stay here with Mummy." She stroked his hair as she tried not to think about the messy life she had created for herself outside of this room.

She honestly didn't think that Ron could've taken the news any worse but right now she was too mad to feel a great deal of sympathy for him. She felt a lot worse for Harry; he'd looked so hurt.

_Mudblood_

The word flashed through her brain unexpectedly making her wince. The word normally didn't bother her but hearing it come from Draco had felt like he'd punched her in the stomach. She knew that he was mad at her but did he have to use that word?

She sighed as she felt her eyelids start to droop. Two soft flumps next to her announced the arrivals of Seren and Elysia and Hermione just had enough will power to reach for her wand and conjure a large blanket over them all before she drifted off to sleep.

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Draco put his hands on either side of the sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He was only twenty one but he felt like he'd aged about ten years over the last week. The black eye did not help his appearance or mood.

It had been about 40 hours since he'd received it from that idiot Weasel and it was a disgusting mixture of purple and blue. He grabbed his wand out of the pocket of his robe and cast a glamour over his unsightly bruise. Today was a very important day and he did not want to spend most of it telling people how he'd got a black eye.

Today was his father's trial and he needed to look cool, calm and collected despite the turmoil he was experiencing on the inside. He could not get those children out of his head but nor did he want to. He had seen them only briefly but had tried to burn everything about them into his memory.

He closed his eyes and tried to picture them. One of his daughters had white blond hair, just like his and she definitely had his nose. She was the one that looked like him the most. A proper little Malfoy. His other daughter was much more like Granger with her bushy brown hair and facial features. In fact, if he recalled correctly they all had her chocolate coloured eyes, something he didn't have a problem with. His son was more of a mish-mash of the two parents. His hair was dark and very curly which he must have gotten from Granger but the shaping of his face was much more like a Malfoy's.

A _Malfoy_. What did that name mean to him anymore? Not a lot, if he was honest. It was just a name. It didn't rule him and form the pathway of his life like it had when he was younger. He was sure that the name of Malfoy was going to get a lot of beating today; Granger had pretty much promised as much.

Thinking of Granger and names made Draco wince. He could not believe that he had called her a mudblood. He completely deserved his black eye. He had not sent her an apologetic letter for he was sure she would incinerate it on sight. So he would apologise to her as soon as he saw her today. He didn't think of her in terms of blood in the slightest anymore and he'd only wanted to lash out and make her feel as hurt as he did. He knew that he'd completely lost it yesterday and really had to learn how to control his temper if she was going to let him see the kids.

He looked at his watch; it was half past eight. He inspected his glamour once more in the mirror before making his way to the Ministry of Magic.

He continued to receive stares from the various workers as he made his long way to the Courtroom. A Ministry official showed him to a seat in the stands and Draco sat, rather awkwardly, aware of the stares he was getting from the members of the Wizengamot, in their plum robes. He glanced along the rows of public seating, where he was sat, and saw to his dismay that Rita Skeeter and her acid quill were present. She was staring avidly at him and her quill moved rapidly across a piece of parchment. He looked away, quickly, so that she wouldn't come over and interview him. There were a few other people in the rows, none of whom Draco recognised.

He heard the door to the courtroom open and he turned to see Potter and Granger walk in together. Quite why Potter was there Draco wasn't sure. He watched as they shared a few quiet words together before Potter squeezed her hand and took a seat in the stands as far away from Draco as possible.

Draco tried to attract Granger's attention but she was stubbornly ignoring him.

"Granger," he whispered but she still didn't respond to him. "Damn it," he muttered as he jumped down to her level. She looked up at him in shock.

"Malf- " she began but he cut her off.

"I'm sorry for what I said on Saturday. That word, I didn't mean it in the slightest. I was just angry at you." He said in a rush. "I wanted to tell you that before, you know, all of this." He motioned to the courtroom. "Good luck," and with that he quickly made his way back to his seat, aware that he'd attracted everyone's stares again. _'Cool, calm and collected' _he thought to himself as he took some deep breaths.

A door was opened from somewhere else and Draco saw three people enter into the Wizengamot and sit in the interrogators chairs. He did not recognise the two men and woman but knew who they were. The woman was Conchessa O'Brien, the head of the Auror department. She looked to be in her late forties and her dark hair was streaked with grey as it fell sleekly just past her shoulders. The man sat in the centre must be Gawain Robards, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, for he was scheduled to preside over the trial. A previous auror himself, his eyes were deeply shadowed and he looked a very grumpy man as he scowled down at the chained chair that was, as yet, empty. This meant that the final man must be David Blake, an advisor to the Minister. He looked like a rather kindly grandfather and Draco hoped that he could negate the grumpiness of Robards.

Now they were all waiting for one person.

Draco turned his eyes to look at Granger. She had conjured up a desk and chair on Draco's side of the court next to, but not too close to Lucius' chair. She was sitting down, browsing nonchalantly through a few pieces of parchment on her desk. Draco marvelled at her professionalism; she had to be under greater stress than he was considering that she was about to defend one of her deepest enemies.

The door behind her opened again and a sudden chill swept through the room. Draco instantly tried to block his mind from the effects of the entering dementor but he could hear the sounds that led up to his mother's death erupt into his mind. He looked up and saw the single dementor escorting his clearly frail father into the chained chair. The voices in his head suddenly stopped and a gleam of silver caught his eye. Granger's otter patronus was ambling up and down the length of the public stands. He looked to her in thanks but apart from her wand being out, she showed no sign of being aware that she'd cast a patronus, her form still appearing to read the parchments.

The dementor was soon gone and the chains on Lucius' chair had clinked into place. His father's body was wracked with coughs for nearly a minute before he slumped back into his chair. He groggily opened his eyes and looked around the courtroom. Every single face held a look of disgust or loathing.

"You are Lucius Tiberius Malfoy, formerly of Malfoy Manor, now a prisoner of Azkaban?" Robards asked, gruffly.

"Yes," Lucius spat.

"You have been brought before the Wizengamot because your son has requested that you live your last few days in your former residence."

Draco watched his father closely. When Robards mentioned him, Lucius sent his son a glare but Draco looked coolly back.

"Hermione Granger, you have been appointed to act on Lucius Malfoy's behalf?"

"Yes, Sir," she said, standing up from her seat.

"Your initial argument if you please, Miss Granger," instructed Blake, as a junior member of the Ministry hurriedly started recording the proceedings.

Granger inclined her head to the judges before looking up to address the rest of the Wizengamot.

"Wizards and witches of the Wizengamot, there is no doubt that Lucius Malfoy is guilty of the countless Unforgiveable curses that he was convicted of three and a half years ago. I myself, was witness to some and I am sure that if he was given the opportunity Mr. Malfoy would kill me right now. I am not asking you to forgive or forget what he has done, I certainly never shall and nor will the other victims of his crimes. But I want you to consider the message that we want to send out to the wizarding community, not just here but throughout the world."

Granger inclined her head once more and Draco raised an eyebrow. That was a pretty vague and condemning opening statement. He supposed that trying to get his father released from prison was a waste of time after all.

The interrogators shared looks of disappointment, as though they were expecting Granger to put up more of a fight than this. Draco personally wouldn't be surprised is she had admitted defeat. She was defending Lucius for starters, with possibly the most difficult case she'd ever had. But then she'd had to deal with the chaos of Weasel, Potter and himself finding out the truth about the triplets. He was impressed she was even standing and felt slightly guilty for the extra stress he must have given her with all his yelling. Sure, he was still mad at her but that didn't entirely excuse his behaviour. He cringed as the 'mudblood' incident flashed through his mind once again.

"Do you believe Mr. Malfoy to be a threat to other human beings?" Conchessa O'Brien asked.

Granger shook her head. "No, the progression of his case of Alutorsa has left him incapable of barely any physical activity without collapsing from exhaustion. His Healer believes that he will die before March is out."

Lucius showed no emotion to these words and Draco was sure that he was trying to block the whole experience from his memory.

"What will happen to him if we release him?" Blake asked.

"Lucius will be moved to his former residence in Wiltshire where he will be under the supervision of his son, Draco Malfoy. A request was put forth to the Ministry that a couple of aurors be stationed at Malfoy Manor for precautionary reasons."

"I thought you said that he posed no threat?" sniped Robards. "Why waste some of the Ministry's workers guarding someone who, according to you, is on their deathbed? Can Draco Malfoy not defend himself against a dying man?"

Draco glared at Gawain Robards for the insult. He really didn't like that man. Something told Draco that Robards was going to do everything in his power to make this case look ridiculous.

"I never said the aurors were needed to subdue Mr. Malfoy." Granger replied calmly and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement raised an eyebrow.

"You think Lucius Malfoy in danger of an attack?" enquired Robards.

"Not really. While there are many who think ill of him-"

'Understatement of the decade!' thought Draco, wryly.

"-I doubt anyone would act on their dislike. That is why it's a _precaution_."

Draco's jaw nearly fell open. Did Granger just backchat one of the most powerful people in The Ministry?! Robards' sniping must be getting to her too for Draco knew that Granger was known as a very respectful member of the Wizarding community. He felt all his final hopes of winning this case ebb away as Robards' face flushed red and he scowled at her but she carried on as though she had not implied anything offensive.

"A healer from St. Mungo's will visit Lucius Malfoy four times a day to check on his deterioration and offer any medical support needed. Draco Malfoy has offered to pay for any expenses, which means that, financially, The Ministry of Magic will have nothing to object to."

"How reassuring," Robards remarked dryly.

Draco had a very strong urge to punch him in the face even though Granger had sort of asked for the sarcastic reply by pissing him off.

"So you believe placing Lucius Malfoy under the care of his _son_ is a sensible prospect?" Robards asked, frowning.

"I'm not entirely sure what you mean, Sir," Granger stated although her voice had hardened considerably and her eyes had narrowed somewhat.

Draco could feel a lot of eyes on his face again and he tried not to show any emotion. He had a sickly feeling in his stomach as he guessed where the Department Head was going with this.

"Draco Malfoy was once, like his father, a follower of You-Know-Who. How do we know that Lucius will not pass on what he knows of the Dark Arts to his son and we will then have another threat to the safety of the wizarding world?" Robards sneered.

Forget not showing any emotion. Draco was livid. His hands were balled up into fists and he had to physically bite his tongue to stop himself shouting profanities at Robards. Draco supposed he should've guessed that his past allegiance would be called into question considering his ancestry but hadn't he proved himself with the fall of the Dark Lord?

The members of the Wizengamot were muttering to each other at Robards' question and out of the corner of his eye he could see Rita Skeeter muttering quickly to her quill as it danced across the piece of parchment. Robards looked perfectly calm as he glanced down at Draco but the other two interrogators were frowning slightly at the Head of Magical Law Enforcement.

"I'd sooner expect _you_ of practising the Dark Arts than I would Draco Malfoy, Sir" Granger said, a vicious bite to her voice. She looked as angry as Draco felt. "Draco turned from Voldemort's side a year before he was defeated and Draco provided our side with a lot of information that was instrumental to Voldemort's downfall. He was one of those leading the way into the New Forest and more than proved himself to be an enemy of those that practise the Dark Arts."

Draco thought that Granger had slightly over played his usefulness in the war but the sickly feeling that had settled in his stomach lessened considerably at her passionate defence of him. She was glaring up at Robards, her eyes alight with fury. 'Merlin, she's sexy when she's mad' he thought and nearly jumped at where his mind had wandered. Now was so not the time…

Robards didn't look entirely convinced by her argument. However, he was a former auror and Draco was sure that aurors were more likely to hang onto their first impressions than most people so he wasn't too surprised. Robards was looking into the crowd above Draco's left shoulder and Draco frowned as he wondered what the grumpy man was up to now.

"Mr. Potter?" Robards called and everyone's heads swivelled to look at their glorified saviour. Potter looked highly uncomfortable to be put into the spotlight which gave Draco small comfort as he felt the trial falling rapidly apart in front of his eyes. "Do you think Draco Malfoy can be trusted?"

Draco heard Granger huff in annoyance somewhere behind him. She was no doubt annoyed that Robards hadn't taken her word for Draco's reliability. To ask a member of the public a question within a trial without submitting them as a witness was highly irregular and considering their past history, Draco was not sure whether Potter would give a fair answer, particularly after the previous day's revelations. Potter's answer would not only have an effect on this trial but probably on the rest of his life, Draco realized. If the saviour of the wizarding world said that Draco couldn't be trusted then no one would do business with him, he'd be shunned from the entire wizarding community! Why the hell was Robards trying to put him in this situation? As far as he knew, Draco had done nothing to offend Robards so what was his problem?

Draco looked back at Potter and the sickly feeling in his stomach increased again as he considered what that dark haired man would say.

Potter sighed and looked up at Robards. "You can trust him, Sir. He would not turn to the Dark Arts after all he's been through and I highly doubt Lucius would want to pass on his knowledge of the Dark Arts to Draco after his defection; they're not exactly the best of friends."

Draco let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. Potter looked almost pained to have said something reasonably nice about one of his least favourite people.

"If 'they're not exactly best of friends' as you put it, why do you think Draco Malfoy is petitioning for his father's release?" Robards questioned.

"That's something you'd have to ask _him_." Potter replied, obviously hoping that would be the end of his involvement in the trial. But…

"Do you think there is any ground for Lucius Malfoy to be released?" continued Robards but Granger had finally had enough.

"Sir, I really must protest," called Granger. "There is no reason for you to seek the opinion of Harry Potter on this matter. The decision is down to the members of the wizengamot, not Mr Potter. If you had wanted to seek his professional opinion then you should have submitted him as a witness before the trial started."

"Point noted, Miss Granger." Intervened Conchessa O'Brien. "We have established that Draco Malfoy is an adequate carer for his father. However, Miss Granger, a previous meeting of the Wizengamot nearly four years ago, sentenced Lucius Malfoy to a lifetime imprisonment in Azkaban."

"I know, Ma'am." She replied.

"You think the sentence incorrect then," O'Brien asked, "seeing as you are petitioning for his release?"

Granger shook her head. "Although my stance in this trial would appear as though I am campaigning to lessen the conviction Lucius Malfoy received for his crimes, I believe Ma'am that, in fact, I am seeking to enhance his sentence."

Draco was unable to stop his jaw from dropping this time as loud conversations broke out through the courtroom. He glanced behind him at Potter and saw that the black haired man was just as shocked at this statement as he was.

"Would you care to elaborate on that statement, Miss Granger?" asked David Blake as all three interrogators shared incredulous looks.

"Certainly, Sir." She said as she moved right to the centre of the court, all eyes on her and no sound heard by anyone but that of their own breathing.

"When I think of the life that Lucius Malfoy has led, my conclusion is that he has been a victim. He has been a victim of pureblood fanaticism; that fundamental belief that some witches and wizards are better than others because of their ancestors. This ludicrous idea has haunted our world for centuries causing death and despair whenever it rears its ugly head." She paused and the whole court held their breath, entranced.

"However, it is a battle that Purebloods have always lost, for, here I am, a proud muggleborn, able to talk freely and without fear of persecution. Which just goes to show that families like the Malfoys are not of this time. They are dying. Where, I ask you, are the Lestranges? All dead." She hissed viciously, slamming her fist into her palm. "The Blacks? All dead. Those pureblooded families steeped in the dark arts are a dying breed and a parasite on our society. Draco Malfoy has seen that; he has broken free of his family's ideals and is now a highly respected wizard." She glared at Robards at that point, daring him to contradict her but he remained silent.

"Draco knows that the stigma that accompanies his surname makes people wary of him, something that I'm sure he would prefer to live without. We, today have a chance to change that because ever since the defeat of Voldemort the Wizarding world has entered a new era. Lucius Malfoy is not part of this era; he has had his time. It is time for a new generation to step forwards and establish a society where all are equal, where people aren't judged on who their parents are or what their surname is. When a muggleborn child steps into our world we don't want them to be bullied and slighted for something that is out of their control, we want to make them feel safe and secure in this new part of their lives." She sighed and let a small smile loose.

"I could talk about how to integrate muggleborn children into the wizarding world for hours but it is important to realise that this is not a one dimensional problem, we need to look at the other side of the coin. When you meet someone like Draco Malfoy, someone whose surname may have been feared in the past or who might have been part of a particular house at Hogwarts, you should not shun them or treat them differently to anyone else. You should treat them as a person, not a name or house."

"There is not a single witch or wizard in the UK who did not loose a loved one in the recent racially motivated war. We have the chance to lay down a legacy for our children, and our children's children. We can create a safe world for them so that hopefully they will never bear witness to the atrocities that happened a few years ago. We all need to be in accordance for this to work and the Ministry needs to send out a clear message that it has no respect for people who would jeopardise the future that we are all working towards. So in order to establish the society we crave, we must get rid of what haunts our past. Letting Lucius Malfoy die in his manor is the sort of ruthless message that the Ministry needs to voice. We would be showing Lucius a sort of anti-respect by allowing him to die in his precious, prestigious home which holds all the values that he treasures so much. Let him die, and let him see that those ideals were not enough to give him the life, the respect, the power he thought he deserved. All the comfort he receives from his release will taste of mockery to him and it will be an utter humiliation, an added torment in his last few days, to know that we are using his death as the end of an era. The manner of Lucius' death will be a signal to all those who shared his ideals, that this government will not tolerate blood discrimination; that it finds the notion ridiculous. Some will say that it is cruel; that we will be celebrating someone's death, but I will not be celebrating anything. Lucius Malfoy has been dead in my eyes for the last three years, someone who was not worth thinking about until this trial forced me to. Yes, we could throw him back to Azkaban and let the Daily Prophet print a small paragraph when he eventually passes on, or, we could use this inevitable death to unite the people of this country to say, what has passed may be in the past, but we do not forgive and we do not forget. We are ready to start a new chapter in wizarding Britain and set an example to the world because as a community we will be stronger and tighter than ever before because we are _united!"_

Pandemonium. Members of the wizengamot were on their feet, cheering and applauding, others were shouting things across the room to one another. The interrogators were whispering furiously to each other, while Lucius had his eyes screwed tightly shut. Draco found himself standing and applauding with many in the public stands, a whirlwind of emotions flooding through him: shock, exhilaration, nervousness and there was a definite sense of awe at the havoc that Granger had created within this court room. She was still standing in the middle of the floor, her chest rising and falling rapidly and her eyes bright with passion. He really should have known that she'd try and put a twist on this case; she wasn't the best worker in Magical Law for no reason.

Never in a million years would Draco have considered going on the offensive in order to get his father released from jail and if someone has suggested it beforehand to him, he would have called it impossible. And yet, judging by the wizengamot's reaction, it seemed like she had done it. She had pulled off some sort of miracle!

Conchessa O'Brien shot some green sparks from her wand in order to get everyone to quieten down. The interrogators looked absolutely rattled, as though they couldn't quite believe how this trial had turned. Robards, Draco was happy to see, looked as though he was sucking on a particularly sour lemon.

"The, er, floor is opened to any other members of the wizengamot to voice any, um, questions they may have," O'Brien announced, weakly.

Draco looked around expectantly, as did Granger, but no one put themselves forward. He suspected that any who did have doubts about the proposal would be seen as being against Granger's idea of unity throughout the wizarding world- something that would not go down well with the Ministry at this tentative time after the Dark Lord's defeat. Either that or they didn't quite fancy facing a very pumped up Hermione Granger.

"Then let us proceed to the vote," said Blake. "If you could indicate your decision by casting a green dot on your parchment if you believe Lucius Malfoy should be released or a red dot if you believe he should be taken back to Azkaban. You have one minute to make your decision." He conjured an enormous hour glass into the middle of the room as each member of the wizengamot retrieved their wands to cast their vote. Draco's heart was racing as he realised he would soon know his father's fate. Once the final grain of sand had run through the hour glass it turned red and disappeared. Blake flicked his wand and lots of small pieces of paper zoomed towards him. They immediately started sorting themselves into two piles and it soon became apparent that one was quite a bit larger than the other.

The three interrogators checked and double checked the results while the court room held their breath. Finally, Robards looked up from the pieces of paper in front of him and cleared his throat.

"With a majority of 72 to 16, the wizengamot has decided to release Lucius Malfoy to the care of his son Draco Malfoy."

That tumultuous racket was back again.

She had done it. Draco could not quite believe that Granger had managed to pull it off and with such a clear majority! The witch in question was quickly packing up her things and seemed in a hurry to leave but Draco could not let her go without thanking her. He signalled to the three interrogators that he'd be back to resolve matters concerning Lucius in a few minutes before clambering down the steps. Granger was already exiting through the door with Potter before he made it down to the floor. He walked very quickly to the exit (his ego would not let him run in public) and called out her name as he entered the corridor.

"Granger, wait!" She and Potter stopped and turned, waiting for him to catch up with them. Neither of them looked particularly happy to see him.

"I just wanted to say thank you! You were incredible out there; I can't really believe that you managed to win that!" he gushed.

"You're welcome," she said shortly before a rather awkward silence descended amongst them. "Was there anything else? It's just that I've got to go and meet the Minister so that we can get as much out of this result as possible."

"Oh, right, of course," he stammered. "Um, I suppose I also wanted to say again, that I'm really sorry for yesterday. The fact that I was still, _am_ still, in shock, it really doesn't excuse my behaviour. And I was just wondering if there's any chance that after I get all this Lucius stuff sorted out I could come over and meet them later?"

Granger bit her lip and looked at Potter who didn't look overly happy at the idea. However he shrugged his shoulders and muttered something that sounded like, "They're your kids."

"What about Ron?" Granger whispered back.

"I'll keep him out of the way," Potter sighed and Granger gave him a smile of thanks.

"You can come over for dinner tonight, if you want? Does half five sound ok?" she asked Draco.

"Yeah, yeah that sounds fine." He replied. "I'll see you later then, Granger."

"Bye, Draco." She and Potter turned abruptly away and Draco soon realised why as he heard the clicking of high heeled shoes coming rapidly closer. He turned to see the rather garish sight of Rita Skeeter, enchanted parchment and quill floating alongside her.

"A few words for the Daily Prophet, Draco? Tell everyone how you feel now that you've heard that your father is rather surprisingly set to be released."

Draco had to resist the very strong urge to groan.

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"Mummy? Where is Harry and Ron?" asked Elysia when Hermione, with the help of Molly got the kids safely back to the flat. She'd had to take the two girls at the same time but there had been no other option seeing as the guys and Ginny were still at work. Molly had left as soon as she had deposited Cato safely on the ground as she had to start work on Arthur's dinner so it would be ready for him when he came in from the Ministry.

"They're at work, sweetheart. I collected you a bit earlier today and it's a good thing I did because you're all filthy!" Molly and the triplets had been trying to clear a bit of the garden so that they could start growing some flowers. Consequently, the triplets were very muddy.

Hermione glanced at her watch and saw that it was already five minutes past five. If she was going to have all three kids washed and dressed and dinner in the oven by the time Draco got here it was going to be a miracle! Winning seemingly impossible court cases was one thing but handling triplets was something else!

"Right, come on guys, let's go to the bathroom and get washed up," she sighed.

Ten minutes later saw the triplets all sitting in a rather bubbly bath as animate rubber ducks swam and quacked around them.

"When's dinner?" Seren asked as Hermione rubbed shampoo into her hair.

"Um, not sure yet, hun. It won't be too long, though. We're having some of my pasta bake."

"Yay, that's my favourite," Elysia cried as she lunged forward to grab a duck but got a face full of water instead.

"Lissy," Hermione admonished her daughter as she pulled her upright again. "Just sit still and wait for your turn."

"I want mine like a butterfly," stated Seren, reverting back to the topic of pasta bake.

"Mine's gonna be a horse and Harry's will be some lightning like always." Elysia told her sister.

"Harry's not having dinner with us," Hermione informed them as she rinsed Cato's hair.

"Why?" the girls asked in unison.

"Because he and Ron are having dinner somewhere else." She replied.

"Why?" Seren repeated.

"Because they are," Hermione sighed, too distracted to come up with a convincing reason.

"Why?" Seren asked again, giggling.

"Alright smarty-pants, give it a rest!" Hermione laughed.

"So, it's just you, me, Seren and Cato having dinner?" Elysia enquired as her mother started shampooing her hair now.

"No, someone else is going to be there too." Hermione closed her eyes and bit her lip, knowing that this was going to be difficult.

"Who, Mummy?" Seren eagerly asked.

"The man we met in the park the other day. Do you remember?"

"The one who was shouting at you when we got back from the quidditch?"

Hermione winced at Elysia's question. "Yes, that one. He and I have been friends since before you were born but he's been living far away so I haven't seen him."

"Why was he shouting at you?" asked Seren.

"Because I did something very bad to him and he had every right to be angry with me." She explained.

"What did you do?" Seren asked eagerly.

Hermione sighed. "I'll tell you when you're a lot older." Seren pouted.

"Are you friends again now?" Elysia enquired as she wiped some water out of her eye.

"Yes, I think so." Hermione replied, frowning. "Right, no more questions until you three are out of the bath. We haven't got long until he's going to be here!"

After another five minutes the triplets had all been washed and were wearing small dressing gowns while Hermione picked out new clothes for them to wear. She had decided against telling the triplets straight away that Draco was their father because she was unsure how to word it. Perhaps he would prefer to tell them himself? She had just laid the clothes on the bed when she heard the doorbell ring.

She groaned. Was he early? She checked her watch as she made her way to the front door, her tots trailing behind her, and saw that it was half five on the dot. Damn.

She opened the door to reveal a very nervous looking Draco Malfoy.

"Hi," he said, giving her a small smile.

"Come in," she invited, opening the door further and the children scuttled to hide behind her. "As you might be able to tell, we're not quite ready. The kids and Molly were doing some gardening and they got a bit dirty so we've had to have a quick wash. Um, I'll quickly start tea and you can watch it for me while I get the kids dressed. Is that ok?"

"Yeah, that's fine. What are we having?" Draco asked as he followed her to the kitchen.

"My pasta bake," she replied over her shoulder as she reached for a large saucepan and started filling it with water.

"Ah, my favourite." Draco grinned, much to the delight of the triplets. "You were always the best cook at Grimmauld Place."

"The rest of you weren't _that_ bad." She joked as she put the water on to boil. "Right, when the water boils you can put about half of this bag of pasta in and you lower the heat, ok?"

"Yes, chef," he said, in mock seriousness and Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Very funny. Oh, and we each have a small individually shaped pasta bake to make it more fun. Harry has his in the shape of a lightning bolt, Ron's is like a snitch so you think about what you want yours to be while I get these guys dressed. We'll be back in a few minutes."

Hermione and the kids went back to their room to get them dressed.

"He likes you pasta bake too, Mummy! Did you know he liked it?" Elysia asked as her mother pulled a t-shirt over her head.

"I might have remembered," she answered slyly.

"His hair is the same colour as mine," Seren pointed out.

"Hmmmm. That's interesting, sweetheart," Hermione replied, not sure what other answer to give.

Ten minutes later all three were dressed so Hermione led them back to the kitchen. "How long has the pasta been in?" she asked him upon entering.

"About five minutes," he answered, letting her take control of the stove.

"Ok, just give me a minute while I get everything ready and then this can go in the oven." The others watched silently as she threw a few ingredients into a large mixing bowl before adding in the pasta. She stirred it round a little bit before holding the bowl out to Seren.

"Your turn, sugar," she said and Seren stirred the mixture round a few times before her sister then her brother had a go too.

"And now it's your turn," Hermione said, holding the bowl out to Draco.

"Um, ok." He muttered, a little confused.

"Right, time to decide our shapes. Girls, you wanted a horse and a butterfly, yeah?" The girls nodded. "And do you want yours shaped like a man again?" she asked Cato who also nodded. She turned to Draco and gave him a questioning look.

"A champagne glass, to celebrate your triumph this morning."

Hermione blushed and turned back to the counter.

"What's your shape?" Draco asked.

"A book!" cried Seren, before immediately colouring. "Mummy always has like an open book."

Draco chuckled at Hermione's back. "I should've known."

Ignoring him, Hermione used her wand to levitate some of the pasta out of the bowl onto a baking sheet. With some nifty wand work she sculpted the pasta into five shapes that were clearly their designated objects.

"How come they don't fall apart?" Draco asked, clearly impressed.

"Binding charm," she replied as she sprinkled on some cheese. She placed the tray carefully into the oven and turned to face Draco. "Shall we go into the lounge then? Dinner will take about 20 minutes to be ready."

"Sure," he agreed and they all trouped from the kitchen.

"So, I suppose some introductions would be a good idea, huh?" Hermione asked, feeling suddenly very nervous. The kids were sitting with her on one couch, Draco on the other. "Guys, this is Draco Malfoy. Draco, this is Elysia."

"Hi, Elysia," Draco greeted, while she said a very quiet hello back.

"This is Seren." The same greetings were repeated.

"And this is Cato."

"Hi, Cato." Draco said to his son but, of course, Cato said nothing back.

"Um, Cato hasn't said his first word yet." Hermione informed Draco, nervously.

"Oh, ok," he replied, obviously unsure what to say.

An extremely awkward silence came upon them. Neither adult could think of an appropriate topic of conversation and so the children sat, looking bored.

"I haven't," Hermione started, then paused, before carrying on again. "I haven't, er, told them about, you know…" then silently mouthed, 'you being their father.'

Draco nodded.

"I wasn't sure how to go about it. I thought you'd want to, or not" she added hurriedly, "I mean, you might not want them to know." She babbled.

"No, I do" he replied, quickly. "But maybe it's best to wait a little bit."

Hermione nodded.

"Is everything ok at home?" she asked.

"Yeah, a couple of Azkaban guards helped me to transport him and The Ministry have provided me with at least one junior auror 24/7 so he's fine. A healer checked on him just before I apparated over. How did Kingsley take the news?"

"He was surprised, but quickly saw the potential the outcome presented him with. He was so pleased that he ordered me to take the rest of the week off."

"Are you actually going to?" Draco smirked at her.

"He has officially banned me from stepping into my office so, yeah. And it means that I get to spend lots of time with the kids." She turned to the triplets, "You guys don't have to go over to Nana's for a few days. You get to stay with me. That's good isn't it?"

"Oh, Mummy! Can we go to the zoo?" exclaimed Seren.

"Oh, yes! Please can we go Mummy?" begged Elysia.

"I dunno," Hermione sighed. "It's only going to be me looking after you. Harry and Ron will still be at work."

"_Please!" _the girls implored her.

"I could help you look after them, if you want?" Draco offered and the girls both squealed.

"You don't need to look after your father?" Hermione questioned.

"I've hired someone to help me. So between them, the aurors and the Healers I think he'll be ok." Draco explained.

"I wanna see the lions," Seren announced and did her best imitation of a lion roaring.

"Hang on, I haven't said yes yet!" Hermione pointed out. "Let me see how you behave over dinner and then I'll tell you."

"Oh," Elysia whined, "please will you take us?"

"We'll see," Hermione smirked at her daughter.

"I want to see the snakes." Draco told the children. "Snakes have always been my favourites." He flashed a grin at Hermione who shrugged her shoulders.

"I've never liked snakes," she said snootily. "I agree with Seren, lions are definitely the best."

They spent the next few minutes talking about what animals they might see at the zoo before a beeping from Hermione's wand informed them that dinner was ready. And so, Hermione, Draco, Cato, Elysia and Seren enjoyed their first meal as a family.

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A/N Ok, so no prizes for guessing where we're going in the next chapter! I decided not to leave you with a cliffhanger for once. I hope you appreciate the gesture!

Some of this chapter was fun to write, some was not. I don't pretend to be a particularly eloquent speech writer and there are probably millions of people who could have written Hermione's big speech better than me but it's my story so I'm stuck with that lovely task! I also added in a different voting system because I find it quite surprising that they wouldn't have secret balloting in the wizengamot. I dunno, maybe it's just me. Oh, and just before you ask, no, Draco hasn't completely forgiven Hermione yet. He just hasn't really gotten a chance to say that to her.

A couple of things that I think you might find interesting: my sister is a big sci-fi fan and went to a convention about a month ago where one of the guests was Tom Felton! She got an autograph with him and a picture and she said that he was really, really nice; very chatty and friendly to the fans. She is also going to another convention soon where she gets to have a photo taken with the Weasley twin actors (James and Oliver Phelps). She's trying to get me to go too but I'm not sure yet. The other thing is that me, my sister and our friend are going to stake out the Half Blood Prince UK premiere in a couple of weeks! They're both gonna dress up but I would be too embarrassed to do that! So, next time I update I shall let you know if I managed to see anyone and whether I went to the convention.

I just wanna congratulate my sister because she graduated from University today. She looked very smart in her robes and my hands got very tired from all the clapping I had to do. They had 3 chocolate fountains at the reception and I cannot recommend strawberries coated with melted white chocolate enough! They were yummy!

Anyway, I hope you are having a good start to the summer! I will try to update soon but I'm quite busy with my annoying summer job. L

Until next time!

Lil Drop of Magic

xXx


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